papers, papers please.

so...new law in Arizona. as an immigrant i'm going to have to carry my immigration papers with me at all times because if police have any reason to believe i may be here illegally they have the obligation to find out my status.
oh but wait, they won't ask me! because i'm white. i won't get pulled over and asked...because i'm practically translucent white.
great use of all the taxes that i pay.

in other news. that's one of the pictures i took in D.C. we had a wonderful time.
school is sucking my soul.
two weeks left until summer off.
bless that i make it!

daddy

we booked tickets to DC for a trip this spring with friends. yay!

this picture was taken at the national zoo when i was a little girl.

i'm the kiddo on my dad's shoulders.

if you are of a prayerful spirit, my dad is in the hospital and could use positive thoughts/prayers.

i think the hardest part about living so far away is when things happen and you wish you could BE there.

not that there is anything i can do, and it is not life-threatening, but it still scares me and

 i wish i could  be home.

So i had some goals....

so i had some goals for my break. which was sadly a week shorter than i had thought.

i think i did really well!

bake bagels (done and delicious, i bought sesame seeds at the market on saturday so next weekend i'm trying sesame seed ones)

write down my must read list in a nifty notebook (done)

finish reading outliers (done & loved it)

walk (done & loved it)

see the nutcracker ballet (done & loved it)

hem some pants (done)

finish up my project 365 (pictures ordered and here, planning on finishing up this weekend at scrapbooking)

drink tea (done & yum)

give (done & loved it)

yoga (not done, sad)

and hopefully blog (done! it was good to get thoughts out and make connections.

this weekend was really great. yesterday we got to spend time with some great friends and eat some yummy greek food. today was spent being lazy. back to work and school tomorrow.

walking

the husband and i have taken to walking around our neighborhood.

one day this week he was at work late so i set out on my own, with glee playing on my ipod.

i enjoyed saying hello to the horses and cows down the street.

watched the little birdies hop hop hop on the side of the road.

wished i had a cute dog to walk with.

wished i had pepper spray when i passed the empty pockets saloon.

walked through campus and down route 66.

a lovely half hour of music and thinking.

the sun was setting over the desert as i walked up to my door and i remembered why i like living in arizona.

it's january and i took a walk in sneakers and a hooded sweater. beautiful!

random post of randomness

i am such a child in that i can only stomach vitamins when they come in gummi form.

fortunately this is a trend. yay!

my husband E made us tempura for dinner last night. i am blessed. it was delish.

i have been cleaning and re-organizing like mad. making space makes me happy. my friend linda always teases me about how i get rid of/purge things but it works for me.

it's been really cold here. i feel odd saying that because growing up in NORTHERN ONTARIO was colder...but like....dude...i can't wear flip flops....and i sometimes have to wear gloves and uggs with my hooded sweater.

i thought school started again on the 18th. i was wrong. it's the 11th. looking forward to it but i feel cheated out of my extra week!

a co-worker/friend lost a long battle with cancer yesterday. i'm happy that she is at peace

but she will be very missed.

bagels!

what a difference a year makes. a year ago i was afraid to make anything with yeast.

i started out making no knead bread. and it was good.

then came pretzels, and rolls, and this weekend;

BAGELS!

the recipe i followed is from Peter Reinhart via this post at the Brown Eyed Baker

i love Michelle's blog and this recipe was awesome.

i really enjoy a good bagel and since moving west i find it harder to come across a good one.

this recipe yielded a chewy, somewhat dense bagel with a crisp crust. delicious!

e loved these and urged me to make a second batch this weekend shortly after he tasted them so we could freeze and toast at will.

up next.....eclairs OR croissants....cast your votes now!

10 life list goals for 2010

on my sidebar i have a list of things i want to do. it's kind of a reminder to live big and dream big. since i started my list i have crossed off some really big ones. going back to school, learning to make bread, and some small but happy things. in 2010 my goal is to cross off at least these 10 below.

Learn to drive stick

Make toffee

Visit DC

Go camping

See monument valley at sunset

Write down my list of must read books and read 10

Make a sand castle

2 push ups

Learn a memory trick for remembering people’s names

Try a raw oyster

2009 was a very good year

it brought a lot of growth and happiness

i:

went back to school

conquered my fear of yeast bread and moved on to pretzels, rolls and bagels

watched e grade papers

missed Canada

took bokeh, glow stick and sparkler photographs

worked on my life list

turned 29

made crème brulee

took a picture (almost) every day
aced all of my classes

fell in love with instant photography again

we:

went to Disneyland

read books

listened to lost of music

made gingerbread houses

aquired a new nephew

saw the nutcracker

celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary

celebrated E turning 30

saw rent, wicked and the lion king

lost people we loved

renovated our bathroom

played

a fond farewell 2009 and every happiness in 2010!

during my time off i will

bake bagels

write down my must read list in a nifty notebook

finish reading outliers (my parents got me this book for my birthday and i'm loving it)

walk

see the nutcracker ballet

hem some pants

finish up my project 365 (i've done really good with taking pictures but i need to have them printed/put them in my book)

drink tea

give

yoga

and hopefully blog

School is done....for now!

So i survived and actually thrived this semester. Granted when i was taking finals and finishing research paper it felt very overwhelming but i feel really good about it! So since school is out for a whole month...and i'm only working 40 hours a week...we have been having fun!

We made gingerbread houses with kimmy and lou. the frosting was super sticky but we had tons of fun.

packages are wrapped and on the way to family.

I snapped some family pics for E's family.

and i've been working on my life list....next up is NUTCRACKER!

Exciting.

i've already registered for classes for the spring and as much as i'm n ot really looking forward to it it felt really good to use my brains.....my grades were good. A friend commented that that means i should take harder classes which may be right

but for today....these things i know for sure

christmas is this week....ready or not

e has two weeks off

i miss glee

i have a really great partner in life

not putting up a tree or decorating a lot for the holidays was a good thing

i can do anything i set my mind to....going back to school is just the beginning

i have really great friends and family

peace everybody!

be back soon

School is keeping me busy.....

And festive holiday parties at work....oh and work...

And making home made presents....like bows.

after i finish my finals this week....and help my boy celebrate his 30th birthday

I'll be back

Polaroid Wall

Some hopefully better pictures. Better light for sure!

Crafty + instant photos = a happy girl!

thankful

six years ago. last Saturday.

I married this man. Most days i have a time that i stop and am thankful for him. Because he did the dishes or filled my car with gas. small things that make my life easier and happier. so today when I am thinking of thankfulness he is totally at the top of my list.

these peeps are up there too.

fun memories of days before Arizona.

this little one is a very new addition to my thankful list....Kohl our new nephew. SO kissable.

Also very very thankful for:

jobs

health

love

happiness

clean water and food

friends

and all of our many other blessings.

Polaroid Love

I will take another picture when the light is better. Tonight I made a polaroid display that hangs on the wall above our couch. I need more clips from Ikea but i'm really loving it! It's curtain hanging wire and clips from Ikea with little tiny screw in loops. Oh and I cut the smile & polaroid with my cricut.

Cheap and easy and i'm in love.

Theatre Love!

You have until November 11th to enter our Les Mis challenge over at Theatre Love!

Create a layout inspired by Les Miserable and link it to participate in the fun.

I *love* Jack

we:

carved pumpkins

gave out candy

spent time with friends

roasted pumpkin seeds

watched old halloween episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer

and had a wonderful halloween

October random thoughts.

So Thanksgiving was wonderful. Great company, great food, performance art jell-o, turkey and all other manner of lovely things. I had to go to class after though and work on my research paper. Boo!

I had the flu. It was horrid. E was lovely.

I haven't been sleeping since said flu.

Also the smell of food cooking and the act of swallowing...still not so much loving.

I studied for my mid term for a few hours tonight and suddenly got the urge to completely clean/re-organize the office. RIGHT THAT MINUTE.

No idea why I chose to do my research paper on Doubt: a Parable.  After reading tons of research I am thinking that since I deal with a lot of abuse/molestation at work I should have picked the "He's a Good Man Charlie Brown" option.

Our tickets for the National Monument tour came in the mail. Can not wait until March.

The nanaimo bars I made for thanksgiving were delish if i do say so myself. And I do.

Still really loving my punkins. They are pretty and make me happy.

It is Thanksgiving.

Saturday Kimmy and I took Kaitee to the pumpkin patch.
We had literally a trunk full of  pumpkins at the end of the day. Two wheel barrows full (we actually popped the tire on the wheel barrow). One very fun day!

Good dog.

A few years ago I took a black and white photography class, developing my own film and all that business. I really liked it but I had one roll that I just didn't get around to while I was still in class. Not many places develop B&W film anymore so it sat on ym desk for YEARS. I just got it developed a few weeks ago and the whole roll was images of E's dog Sandy.

They had her for 18 years and she was THE BEST DOG. Sweet and even tempered. She got slower these past few years and today they had to put her down. So *sad*.

So here's to Sandy, a really good dog.

Instax Love!

So this weekend was good but Sunday-Monday? Not so hot. I had several cooking disasters on Sunday followed up by a massive migraine that continued into Monday. NICE!
But today there was happy mail waiting for me at the post office! My new baby!
After work i took her out for a spin.

I'm in love with my new instax mini....any name suggestions? She's tiny, cute and from japan!