5.24.2010

An Additional 10 Happy Things


{image source.}

1.  The bird singing outside my window.
2.  My little garden, which has gotten plenty of rain recently.
3.  Chocolate-covered pretzels and lemon San Pellegrino, a wonderful combination.
4.  Chocolate-covered pretzels, period.
5.  Clean laundry and fresh clothes to wear.
6.  Baby pictures of Christian -- he was adorable.
7.  Getting to spend time with family.
8.  The LOST series finale.
9.  Flowers from my Christian.
10.  Wearing red lipstick.

More happiness...

This weekend has been full of gloomy days, and I thought it would be helpful to start this week off cheerfully {although the weather certainly isn't cooperating -- will we ever have consistently sunny days again?}. 

5.17.2010

Important Thoughts 18.0

18.1:  Check it: I'm now offering to create Blogger templates for anyone who's willing to pay me a very small fee.  I'm excited!  On the downside, I now have to wait for people to come to me; I can't go around volunteering to design for free any more.  That's a little bit of a bummer.

18.2:  Christian took me out for dinner and a movie on Saturday.  It was so incredibly sweet -- he even brought me flowers.  We went to see Oceans, which I thought would be really interesting, but it turned out to be super boringsuck.  Christian fell asleep for several minutes.  I was hoping for more scientific fact and less random, unorganized, fourth-grade-level poetry.  Dinner was excellent; we went to the Village Deli in Cameron Village, which is one of my favorite places because they give you a pickle with your sandwich.  I love that.  Thank you, Christian, for a wonderful evening.

18.3:  I love the idea behind this engagement shoot.  Up always makes me cry, too, and I think this couple is adorable.

5.14.2010

Just for Fun

I saw this list of the School Library Journal's poll result compiling the top 100 Children's Novels on this blog, and thought it would be fun to go through and see how many I've read.  The ones I've read are marked in bold.  I counted a total of sixty, including all of the top ten {although it's almost probable that I miscounted.  I'm not very good at counting -- feel free to count for yourself and tell me in a comment how many I've actually read}, which I attribute to my mother, who always encouraged us to read, and who had excellent taste in children's books.  In fact, the fact that I haven't read all of them speaks more to my stubbornness, since I always have a hard time wanting to read a book if I didn't discover it for myself.
Looking at this list {along with hearing Heather talk about how irritating Anne of Green Gables can be when you're an adult} reminds me how much I used to enjoy children's books, and how much I love reading.  I've gotten out of the habit lately, partly because I set reading goals for myself that I find it hard to reach, which takes some of the fun out of reading, and partly because I can't find anything good to read.  I'm thinking that maybe I might take some time to read the books on this list that I didn't read when I was younger.


5.10.2010

More Mother's Day Pictures


More pictures from our Mother's Day photo shoot at Alice's.  I think we hit almost every combination of people possible.  Unfortunately, I couldn't get one of all eight of us -- there's no timer on my Diana.

On Mother's Day growing up I remember that my dad would always wake us up so that we could make my mother breakfast in bed.  I thought that it was so luxurious, with sliced strawberries and a glass of orange juice.  {We never did have a silver platter, however.}  Yesterday Christian and I went over to the Plautzes' to celebrate Mother's Day.  We talked to Eric {Christian's brother on a mission in Georgia} for exactly forty minutes and played Sporcle and ate a delicious dinner.  How did everyone else celebrate Mother's Day?

5.09.2010

Happy Mother's Day!

{Alice, Elaine, Kate, Mom, Lara, Sara Joy, and Laura.}

“[The] ability and willingness properly to rear children, the gift to love, and eagerness … to express it in soul development, make motherhood the noblest office or calling in the world. She who can paint a masterpiece or write a book that will influence millions deserves the admiration and the plaudits of mankind; but she who rears successfully a family of healthy, beautiful sons and daughters, whose influence will be felt through generations to come, … deserves the highest honor that man can give, and the choicest blessings of God.”
-President David O. McKay

Happy Mother's Day to my wonderful mother, to my amazing mother-in-law, to my grandmother, and to anyone who has ever mothered me.

5.07.2010

A Day Full of Girls


Yesterday I went over to Alice's house.  I had invited myself over because I love to spend time with Alice, and I love to hold her baby.  While I was at it, I invited my mother over to Alice's also, and she brought my other two sisters and Baby Lara.  It was a day full of girls.  I had so much fun.

Before my mom arrived, I played with Kate and talked to Alice about everything.  Alice feels like my therapist sometimes.  It's so easy to talk to her, because almost everything I'm going through, she understands.  When I'm irritated because the man I love occasionally acts like a doofus, check, Alice has been there.   When I felt harassed by Baby Lara's continual pleas for my attention, when I was dating Christian and my grades went down, when I've been frustrated with my mother, Alice could always relate to what I was feeling.  Alice is amazing.  And even with a new baby, her house always feels clean and peaceful.  I want to be Alice when I grow up.

I took a roll of Mother's Day pictures while we had everyone together -- I'll post more of them later.  The two at the top of this post I took just to finish off my previous roll, but they ended up being my favorites.  Alice said that if you allow Kate to pose for a picture {as opposed to taking a candid}, then she always does the #1 with her finger.  I don't get it, but I think it's hilariously cute.

5.06.2010

My Birthday + First Diana Pictures

Pictures from my first roll of film taken by my new Diana F+.  Clockwise from top left: chickens, my mother working in her garden, Baby Lara pointing at my lens, Lara jumping on the trampoline.

My birthday started as my days usually do, with Christian's alarm going off in what always feels like the middle of the night.  He turned off his alarm, then rolled over and kissed me.  "Good morning.  Happy Birthday."  I dozed until he came back showered and dressed, and kissed me awake again.  We said family prayers, and I sleepily crawled back into bed.  I woke up again to hear pounding on the front door.  It was Christian.  His car battery was dead again, and there was no way my car could get close enough to jump it.  He told me the many ways he had tried to get around this problem {some of which are too hilarious, unfortunately, to post on this blog}.  He was frustrated because he had taken a half day off work, and he had been going to surprise me later at Alice's.  I told him it was okay, he tried to start his car one more time, it worked, and he was off.  Baby Lara {whom I was watching} and I spent most of the rest of the day at Alice's as planned.

Christian came home from work before I came home from Alice's.  We had dinner at Cookout, which was wonderful, and then went to Harris Teeter to pick up dessert and a movie from the RedBox.  I picked out ice cream sandwiches with key lime ice cream in the middle for dessert {Christian disliked holding them in the store, because he thought they looked "super gay," but after eating them, even he admitted they were delicious}, and Sherlock Holmes for watching.  We saw Sherlock Holmes not too long ago in the theater, but it was so good, I wanted to see it again {also, I was under the incorrect impression that you could rent Blu-Ray discs at the RedBox, and I thought it would be fun to watch on our new TV}.  We went home, and Christian gave me possibly my favorite birthday present of all time, my new Diana F+.  It is gorgeous, and I love it.  It was a simple, but an amazing birthday.

Thanks, Mom, for having me.  And thanks, Christian, for making my life perfect.