our sunday stroll

99 cent doilies

i found this tutorial this morning and i had to try it out. so after a trip to joann's for the doilies, i was ready to liven up one of my own v-neck t-shirts. i pinned the doilies where i wanted them and slowly sewed around the edges. it was easy-peasy! and only $2.12 for my now vintage-chic tee.

late nights

we, like the rest of the world, have been glued to the television to watch the olympics, which is usually late at night. (sure love that tape delay)

but the united states have been rocking. woohoo! 32 olympic medals so far. WOW! it has been way fun to watch. these athletes around the world are AMAZING! and extremely dedicated to their sports.

wednesday night though we could not turn on the television. we had to focus on homework. it's funny how the quality of our work goes down when we are trying to watch the olympics and do homework at the same time, or maybe it's not so funny. but we both had some major studying to do. so sad.

so mix mediocre studying together with less sleep at night and you get one tired girl that wants the semester to be OVER!

i just may survive though. we will see. good thing the olympics are almost over. only three more days to cheer on these incredible people! go USA!

For the Love of Photography

VOTE FOR ME!

I recently entered a contest sponsored by, Brooke Snow, the
photographer I took a couple of classes from last year.

VOTE FOR ME!

She is offering an amazing opportunity to learn more about
photography (details here) and I want to WIN. I really do!

VOTE FOR ME!

So if you like to support me in my endeavor to become a
better photographer, I would really appreciate it,

VOTE FOR ME!

Please? This really would be a great experience.
So don't forget to...

VOTE FOR ME!

currently,

i am dreaming of the beach... (mom, quick! let's plan a trip!)

which of course leads to swim suit shopping.

i am really liking these bright color combos:

purple with the pink bottoms or with blue? or maybe green with the blue or even the pink? i think i am favoring the purple top with the blue striped bottoms, but they don't have the top in my size. it is still early for swim suit shopping, so maybe they will get more in. or i could just go with the green top and the blue bottoms, that is my second choice, but then again the pink bottoms are so bright and fun. this is kind of tough.

what would you pick?

our sunday stroll

it was a dreary day, but we still found pretty things.

endless possibilities

i am excited for the weekend. ok, i am so excited for the weekend.

the funniest thing is that we don't even have any plans. i love not having plans.

without weekend plans the possibilities are endless.

we could... roast marshmallows over the stove and tell scary stories, go out to eat and only order desserts, feed the ducks at the duck pond, do a photo shoot downtown of ourselves (we have to remember these younger years) while we drink italian sodas , enjoy j-dawgs for dinner- don't forget the special sauce,create self portraits out of construction paper, run around the moa (museum of art) and try to interpret that modern stuff, make sugar cookies- lots of sugar cookies, make a progressive dinner from the restaurants downtown, start a major craft project (not sure jeremy would love this activity as much as i would), munch on popcorn and watch a redbox movie, go ice skating and hold hands the whole time, try our luck at the nickelcade and spend our winnings on fake tattoos, bundle up and people watch from a bench, toilet paper our buddies' cars, taste test the fries from our favorite burger places around.... etc, etc, etc.

see???... endless! i love it.

i wonder what our date night and lazy saturday will consist of... can't wait to find out.

any fun things you will be doing this weekend?

to my dad:

Happy Birthday Daddy!

[you and me, june 2009]

you are the best dad... EVER!

make your day a fun one and know that i love you!

oh and you sure were an adorable little kid. i swear this could be riley.

p.s. your present will be in the mail... soon. way soon.

for lent

i am giving up chocolate for 40 days.

and i really think i can do it, i'm going to do it.

i contemplated giving up ALL sweets for lent and then i remembered that attempt in 2008. it was horrible and i only made it 4 days. wow... what an accomplishment. not.

so this time i am only giving up chocolate. this way i will still be able to have ice cream, starbursts, gummy bears, sugar cookies, etc. i should be able to survive and it will at least keep me aware of what food i am shoving into my mouth.

this just might be good.

what are you giving up for lent?

jeremy's response: "i'm not catholic."

well, neither am i, but why not?

lent is designed to remind us of Christ fasting for 40 days and it is also meant to be a preparation period for the celebration of easter and Christ's Resurrection. alright, sounds good to me.

all of those that want to join me, as far as i understand it, lent starts today and ends on easter. you know i will be enjoying a chocolate bunny on easter. so figure out what you are going to give up... soon!

weekend of LOVE

saturday, february 13th - our one year anniversary

we started the day by going out to breakfast at magleby's fresh. it was delicious.

jeremy's all you can eat french toast on the left, my bacon and cheese omelet on the right.

we opened our presents in the morning. we aren't very good at waiting. jeremy gave me gift cards yay! i'm going shopping!! and gummy bears. i gave him a watch and it is snazzy! we also made cards for each other. i love homemade cards. so original and from the heart.

from jeremy to me: "We are 1 year old. The best year of my life."

from me to jeremy: "LOVE. we are so in it!"

we played some games on the wii and then we headed to the movies in the afternoon.

we snuck in some treats after a trip to good ole smith's. shhhhhh... please don't hate me.

mambas and peanut butter m&m's. so tasty.

we skipped the crowded restuarants and had a gourmet meal at home. made mostly with the help of the crock pot, so it was easy.

peppered pot roast, sliced potatoes, green beans, and a roll. this is my plate.

check out all those veggies mom!

we ended the night with some peanut butter cup cake. so good!

we are officially one year old!

sundey, february 14th - valentine's day

our third together

we opened our presents in the morning, again. jeremy got me a pretty flower ring. i love it. and i got him a t-shirt and some heart boxers.

we skipped church so we could spend more time together.

NOT. we went, otherwise our primary kids would have missed us. they are so funny.

we went on our sunday afternoon stroll around the neighborhood.

we had saturday's leftovers for dinner and enjoyed fondue for dessert.

what a fun weekend.




ahhhhh! i am so in love with this boy.

i just can't get enough of him.

today

we will be celebrating this:

true love

pictures by my cousin joshua gene
(photography genius)

introducing...

a trumpet sounding "duuun duuun dun dun "

my photo-a-day blog:

and the crowd goes wild!

disclaimer:
this announcement is slightly premature because the big debut will technically be tomorrow, because there aren't any posts yet... but they will be coming fast and furious starting tomorrow. my apologies for the pseudo debut, but i am just too excited to wait any longer.

since i didn't start this cool blog on the 1st day of 2010 like the rest of the world (i just wasn't with-it enough), i figured it was better to start it on a meaningful day, hence starting it on our one year anniversary, rather than on a random day. so as of tomorrow, i will be posting a picture i took that day, everyday. it should be fun.

here's a quote i'm currently loving...

[prosaic = the everyday, ordinary, unglamorous, and commonplace]

"Cloaked in their very ordinariness, the prosaic
events that truly shape our lives - that
truly are our lives - escape our notice."
-Gary Saul Morson (found here)

I want to notice, as well as capture, the most ordinary and seemingly insignificant moments. I want more pictures... of everyday life, of the beautiful things, of boring things, of unglamorous things, and of my hot husband of course. and it will help me keep my new goals for the year.

enjoy the weekend! i know i will.

LoveAgenda

I am so excited for this weekend.

I even created a LoveAgenda! It consists of all of the fun things that Jeremy and I are going to do on our ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY this Saturday (February 13th)! We are treating the day as if we were on vacation (because we can do all of our homework on Monday since we won't have school. YES!).

So far, the day is looking like this:

• Go out to breakfast
• Play tennis
• Go out for lunch and get Italian Sodas
  
• Take $5 worth of photo booth pictures
• See the movie Leap Year
• Make a delicious peppered roast for dinner, with potatoes!
• Have chocolate peanut butter cake with 1 candle in it. (Because WE are 1 year old after all.)
  

any other suggestions to make our day rock?

AHHHHH! I CAN'T WAIT!

a tad bit taboo

i am loving my social deviance class.

today during class we spent an hour and 15 minutes talking about guns and rape. both are interesting topics that people don't really discuss that often. i will tell you, rape victims have a lot to conquer. i learned today that only half of rapes are even reported to the police and 15% of those are ruled unfounded for various reasons (victim delays reporting, previous relationship with the offender, victim too embarrassed/afraid/traumatized/young to cooperate with the police, etc) and then the investigation stops. it is so sad. by the time the victim rounds up enough courage to report it the police and recount every detail of the traumatizing event, they are questioned about the validity of their claims every step of the way. i can't even imagine. and to top it all off, rape victims are sometimes blamed for it all. crazy!

we ended the class with discussing what could be done to decrease rape occurrences. i suggested learning self defense. learning self defense would help women to fight off an attacker and it would also help women present themselves with confidence to avoid looking vulnerable. we also talked about ways to decrease the stigma placed on rape victims, they are not to blame. by reducing the stigma, maybe more victims would report the crime and get the help and support they need in overcoming such a tragedy.

for some reason, i love discussing topics that others tend to shy away from, maybe that is the sociologist in me. other serious topics on the docket are domestic violence, white collar crimes, substance abuse, suicide, mental disorders, and sexual deviance (which includes a number of topics).

i am excited to learn. should be a good semester.

ice ice baby

i may or may not be addicted to ice water.
i like to think that it is debatable because what really constitutes an addiction anyway?

i love to fill my glass full with ice cubes and then add enough water so they are barely floating. after i drink the water and chew all the ice, i am always freezing. so i turn up the heat a couple degrees (or more), and i try to warm up. at this point, i usually beg for j to come and cuddle with me, too.

today after a big glass of ice water, which in reality is mostly just ice, i was trying to locate the warmest part of the apartment (where i could feel the most heat from the vents)...

and i found it:

if i sit on the inches of free counter space in front of the microwave and prop myself up with my legs against the refrigerator, the heat from the vent above hits me right in the face... and it is delightful. i can also look out the window and see what is happening in the world (or at least in our apartment complex parking lot).

p.s. only 6 cupcakes left [sad face]

I'm pretty lucky.

I won cupcakes today!!! (from this fun blog) YAY!

They even delivered them today, too. Talk about service. In our dozen were the following flavors: Key Lime Pie, Red Velvet, Banana, Coconut, Cinnamon Sugar, and Chocolate Mint.

Can't wait to try them all!

I tried the Key Lime Pie and Jeremy tried the Cinnamon Sugar.

Whoa! They are delicious! Check out Cupcake Chic here. I totally recommend them. It definitely was a great way to start a weekend... and we still have 10 left! YES!