sweet friend

I have a friend. And she happens to like me. She is so sweet she made me something. I know you've all noticed it. It's too adorable to miss. That's right, you guessed it: my header. She made it. Just for me! What a sweetheart. I can say that cause she really is. She has her own blog: http://jessandjoshromano.blogspot.com (not that that's what makes her so sweet) and I told her how stinkin' adorable her blog was and how much I loved it and admired her header, then she said she could make me a header! Wow. What a treat. Not only is Jess amazingly gifted when it comes to blogging, she also makes some yummy chili (as you can tell if you read her blog post "Thought I'd Share"). Now I want some chili too... what a dilemma. eh, I guess I'll just have to make some. yum. She also is just pretty amazing all around. We lived together once upon a time... but then I moved and then she moved and so now we rarely get to even visit. shame. Jess is also pretty great at lots of other things too, but I won't tell you all about that right now.

Goodness! Jess is a Genius! Amazing! Wonderful! So incredibly talented! It's true. I have been fooling with trying to get header on my blog for a year, a year. And Everything I try fails miserably. It won't center, it's too small, too big, not right... something is always always wrong. Apparently the header department on Blogger dislikes me very much. Then Jess gives it a go and wha-la! She's like the Fairy Godmother or something.

I was just so wonderfully excited about my wonderfully new cute header I just had to share the creative and sweet friend that is behind it! I hope you all enjoy it as much as me : )

3 things

I've been thinking and well, here are a few things I love:

1. I love that I can call my sister and that my nephew will answer the phone and excitedly greet me, "Hello Auntie Wonderful!" just kidding about the wonderful part, but he really does say my name and I love that. I love that he is two (and a half?) and can tell that I am the one calling to chat (which probably has something to do with the fact that any time I call my sister a picture of me pops up on her phone). I love that after answering the phone he proceeds to tell me all about how he is doing, he got a ballon, it's blue, it's awesome, it has string.... but he will not tell me where he got it from. You know, the important stuff in life. Obviously. I love that he suddenly said, "Ok, I love you. Bye. Here's Mommy," and then when Mommy was talking to me he announced rather loudly that I didn't ask to talk to Mommy and that he wasn't finished talking to me. I love it. Love it. Pretty much nephews and nieces are the best thing on the planet. They are just so wonderful and adorable and cuddly (unless of course they aren't the cuddly type or they are 15 years old in which case they are probably a little too old for cuddling). I love that I have 10 wonderful and beautiful and adorable nephews and nieces. I love it when I actually get to visit them and see them and play with them and squish their little faces. Love it.

2. I love that I am enjoying my second snow day this week, and it's only Wednesday. Yes, it is wonderful. I don't care what any one says, snow days are Amazing. And a blessing. I love being home and getting stuff done: you know like all of that laundry I was telling you about the other day. Still, I love it, the snow makes me happy. It's so pretty and wonderful. I love snow days because I am able to regroup and figure out what I need to do and when I need to do and possibly even get it done. Although, I've had some trouble getting some of the homeworks done today... ai. I really just don't want to, and I find this much more enjoyable than working on something entirely dreadful.

3. I love that I have a happy and cozy home filled with love and joy and yummy smells (most of the time that is). I love that there is a wonderful hubs here and a sweet puppy who is learning more and more every day how to behave like I want him to (that is: to sleep and not bite me). Yes. It's pretty marvelous.

Yes. These are the things I love.

mountains and piles and oodles and boodles

I washed clothes on Friday. Which happened to be a snow day. So Obviously I had oodles and boodles of spare time to do laundry, clean our disastrous house, wash the dishes, do homework, and and run 900 miles. Obviously I could do them all.

Well, as it would happen the only thing I could really check off my list was the homework (and even still it wasn't all done) and the laundry (which was only washed and shoved in the dryer). So really, what did I get done on my snow day? I could not tell you.

What I can tell you is that it took me five years to get the laundry I had washed on Friday folded and put away. And by the time it was put away I found that there was another mountain of dirty laundry that needed to be washed. But that's the cycle of laundry. At least I have a mountain of dirty clothes that I can wash...

Also, since I'm on a roll of giving you a real live update on how I'm doing, I figured I might as well also let you know that I haven't washed a single dish in ... ever. It's true. My sink is piled high with dirty dishes, as are my counters: disgusting. But in the grand scheme of things, what's a few dirty dishes? What's a pile high of laundry? What do these things matter? What are they to me? My sanity. That's what. I lost it the other day when I took the time to survey the disrepair of my once delightful home. I can't stand it. I can't take it. So, I did something about it... kind of... ten years later, like I said.

yep.

The 1/2

I signed up to kill myself. It's true. For some reason back in October or November I got the genius idea to suggest running in a half marathon to my sister, who happens to be a professional runner. Whatever possessed me to suggest running a half marathon I will never know. And now I am going to die because of it.

If you can remember from my near death experience a few months ago, I am not a runner. I am not an athlete. I don't exercise. My idea of exercise is walking up and down the stairs with a few loads of laundry and taking the pup on a little walk - around the yard. I ran once. In college. When I had to. I was getting graded on it. Since leaving college (which is longer than I would like to admit) I have not run a single mile, with the exception of the one a few months ago that nearly killed me. And now I've gone done decided to sign up of a 1/2 Marathon. Crazy.

At least Princesses will be there. That's the only way I knew I would even do it: princess had to be involved. Even still, I'm an official crazy. In approximately six weeks I am going to have to run 13 straight miles. 13 miles. Run. 13 miles. o. good. gravy. I am going to die. I just thought you should know that. It's been nice knowing you.

Thankfully I haven't died yet from all that running. I've been running three miles during the week and running a super long time on the weekends ... the sad part about it is that the longest distance I have run so far is eight miles and I have to run 13 whole miles. O what was I thinking? Apparently I wasn't.

Thankfully I have a wonderful sister who Loves running and I can call and whine and complain to her about how I am about to kill over dead from running three miles. And thankfully she is running the 1/2 with me. I know for a fact that if she wasn't, I wouldn't be. No way. It would have to be a cold day in ... no. So much so that I didn't even register. I made my sister do it. Even though I was the one with whole free long empty days and she had a family to take care of and a job. I knew that I didn't have enough guts to sign up. She did. So I had to pay her back. Motivation, right? Right. Now that I've paid for it, I have to run it. That's a big fat chuck of motivation right there.

Anyhow. I'll let you know before I die from running 13 consecutive miles.

Evil Test and The End

So, I don't know if I ever told you this, but I passed. The Evil Test that is. The one that I had to go back and take another one of. The one that the first time I took it (though please don't be mistaken: I took the Evil Test Content and then Evil Test PLT - two completely different tests. I didn't retake the first -thank the Lord!) the girl forgot to turn her phone off (or leave it in her car) because she knew she would have to take an important call two and a half hours into the test ... and that would make her have to take the test again! ah! Anyways, yes. the Evil Test. I took it and passed it. Again, thank the Lord!

So, what this means is that I get to Student Teach this semester. I do. I actually started a week or so ago. 8th grade Language Arts. I can already tell you that I have forgotten Everything I learned in college (which is bad because I am going to have to teach everything I learned in college) and that I have forgotten half of the kids names. I am in week two of it (or week one according to my syllabus timeline) and am enjoying my second snow day. I like it. A lot.

This also means that I am going to have to start being an efficient time manager again. Making time to wash dishes, do the laundry, put the laundry away, make lunches, do homework, run (but you're gonna have to wait to hear about that one), and do everything else that I need to do. O my. Thankfully, I think I can do it. I hope. Thankfully I have a wonderful hubs who is ever so helpful so I don't have to do it all by my lonesome. And thankfully I have a cute puppy to come home to... o yes. o yes.

Let the semester begin.

the last of 'em

Then we came back home and life was like it had been before we left... until October when we got a puppy for our anniversary present.

ah! what a cutie! I can't stand it!

Then in November we went out and about again for the hubs' work. Can you guess where?

And December too... While we were there we went to museums and monuments (until our noses were too cold or we had just plain had enough of it) and explored the area around our apartment. At one of the museums they had a crochet coral reef. It was Incredible. My favorite.

A little Christmas tree was our only homeyness. How I loved that little tree. You would be surprised at just how much joy a little tree like that can bring.

and a palm tree for some extra twinkle.

Then of course it was Christmas and it was, Christmas and perfect.

We saw the hubs' family for Christmas and were looking through all of the Christmas cards they had received. One of his aunts was very sad and disappointed that we hadn't sent a Christmas card out, especially considering as how we had a puppy. So after the festivities passed I made a Christmas card special for his auntie. The above picture was the one we picked for our card.

And now that year has passed a new one has started, already I tons busier than I have been in forever and it is taking getting used to... but I'll save that for another day :)

More Pitchers

Well, I still haven't figured out how to link older posts in the new one (like this one) so unfortunately you won't get the yummy stories that go along with some of the pictures I post. But I suppose that's okay. I want to post some pictures and have a little bit of time do that that now, so I'm gonna take advantage of that and just post post post some pictures : )

We went to Lake Tahoe with the hubs' parentals... we only took a few thousand pictures (don't worry, I have carefully chosen only a few of them : )

This one is taken at the tippy top of the mountain looking over Lake Tahoe - sooo Beautiful!

The hubs was fascinated with this little island.. we would have swam out to it if we had more time and if the water wasn't Frigid! Some lady build a house (or castle) on it years and years ago (I forgot how many it was). It was pretty awesome.

There was a sparkling waterfall that I fell in love with... so peaceful and gorgeous!

Love it! This is where I felt my heart tugging on me, calling me home, begging me to stay.

And then we went to Yosemite National Park... obviously : )

Incredible.

Yosemite Falls (I think!)

There were some really Huge trees! ai ai!

And then we went to San Francisco...

We went back a few weeks later to see more of the city (like the bridge and such...)

We went to jail. It was pretty crazy.

The bad guys were crazy... literally.

And the highlight of this trip was my birthday present... we went to see Wicked! aaa-mazing! I've got the bestest hubs ever : )

There are more pictures but they will have to come later. I'm thinking tomorrow. It's just so tricky picking only a few from a million. o my. Plus, you don't even have to look at the pictures, I just like to look at them, and they bring back happy memories, so I'm going to post bunches and bunches : ) I would have done it earlier (like this summer when they happened) but if you remember, I couldn't because of the computer I was using and the lack of proper software... but you know that.

So anyhow. That's it. For now. Maybe I'll figure out how to link previous post, but don't count on it. You'll just have to read all of my first ones to get the juicy stories about all of the pictures :) yep.