flashback friday #5

i am so glad that my uncle brian captured this and many other moments way back when.  he recently posted a bunch of old home videos on his website.  i watched, i laughed, i cried, i smiled.  this video, circa 1986, is mostly of my mom feeding ice cream to 3 hungry baby birds........me (wearing an awesome smurf shirt), my brother brandon (i crack up when he says hi to the camera), and my cute little cousin lisa.  also featured in the video....my dad, my grandpa, and 2 aunts, i think that's it. 

i can't really explain how much i love this and all the other videos.

seven

today was a day to celebrate!  because it marked 7 years of these beautiful souls in this world.  they are experts at filling everyones lives with extra sweetness. 

more on our little celebration later. 

i love bru, buddha, and maskie so much!

yellow and green squash

now i know i can't send will to the store by himself.

conversation goes a little like this:

me: i forgot to get squash.  can you go back to the produce section and get me one yellow squash and one green one for the vegetable lasagna. 

him: yes.

me: ok you know which kind i'm talking about right?

him:yes.

it's taking longer than i expected and he comes back with these two in his hands.

which made me laugh. 

him: what?  these are both squash right? one is green and one is yellow.

me: well yes but that's an acorn and butternut squash.  follow me and i'll show you which ones i was talking about.

yes, i meant this kind. 

luckily he was a good sport about letting me take pictures and teasing him.

p.s. he has done pretty good figuring out the right things on plenty other occasions.

late flashback friday #4

i've failed a little at the flashback friday's lately but what can i say.....i'm really loving my new bike so i am using my spare time riding that instead of blogging. 

circa november 2008, photo taken on my favorite hiking trail by my friend amerest. 
the furry girl in the picture is my genius dog brulé.  mascara and my mom are sneaking in the photo too. 

brulé is a wonderful dog.  among her finest qualities is the ability to read peoples minds....i'm pretty certain.  reasons i know this....

1. my mom is really sick this weekend.  despite her illness she decided to take the dogs on a walk which almost did her in.  brulé is known for pulling insanely hard when she goes on a walk but my mom said that today she was really gentle and kept pace with my mom.  she must have known my mom wasn't feeling up to being yanked around the mountain. 

2. all five dogs broke out of their yard friday.  they could get seriously injured out running around and not paying attention to cars, cattle guards, etc.  needless to say we were all in a panic when my mom called to say she was leaving work to try to find them because the neighbor called.  i guess it was quite the production finding and catching them.  my mom and two others managed to catch 4 of the 5.  brulé wasn't to be found until my mom took the others home and there was bru standing at the gate waiting to be let in. 

anyway i really love that little girl and i think she deserves the spotlight.

just because i couldn't resist here are a couple more of my pretty girl from our hike that day.

this gas tank filling guy i know

i love that as we were settling in the other night i realized my vehicle was dangerously low on gas.  since i loathe doing the whole gas station thing i started telling my sad empty gas tank story to za husband.  he being the wonderful man he is gets in the car and drives to the nearest gas station, while i fill his head with all kinds of nonsensical stories, i'm sure.  i love that husband of mine.  he also made my vehicle all sorts of sparkly and shiny this weekend so i can drive her around as pretty as she should always be.

 

paradise is....

going for a ride on my bike with my love on his as the weather is perfect.  and the sun is setting so brilliant hues of pink purple blue and orange litter the sky and dance with white fluffly clouds.  then we go out for delicious thai food which i've been craving for a week.  then i come home and my night looks a little like this..

a hot bubble bath, a cold sparkling pellegrino, and the alice in wonderland book which i am finding myself to be quite fond of.

yes that's a perfect day right there. 

nevermind the fact that my behind has never been so sore in it's life, that bike makes me feel happy and free. 

   

tofu is yummy

i know lots of people that make a disgusted face when i tell them about some random tofu dish i've made.  let me tell you, it's all about how you cook and season it.  my mom was against tofu until she tried some i made, all the sudden it's not so bad in her book.  za husband won't go for it because it's a texture thing for him.  he get's really picky about the texture of foods.  anyway i had yo share this little creation i dreamed up the other day.  pure deliciousness.

garlic lime tofu with saffron spice quinoa.

i added the link because most people wonder what quinoa is.  i wondered before i learned about it. 

i challenge you....get adventurous with your food.  you might just find something amazing that you never knew you'd love.

new best friend

meet my new best friend......we are kind of in love..... not even joking, i am a smitten kitten.

za husband and i have been talking about getting mountain bikes for quite some time.  we went ahead and took the plunge today and i couldn't be happier about it.  i haven't been on a bike in ages but i zoomed around the streets in the dark on this thing like a pro.  a fullish moon plus bike riding equals awesomeness!

i am so excited to go to bed, wake up, work, and then come home and ride my bike tomorrow.  ok maybe not the first three things but the fourth one for sure. 

top reasons my bike is awesome...

1. it is named after me. 

2. it is a neat color that almost matches my car.

3. the paint has a matte finish which makes it extra pretty and different.

4. it didn't buck me off on our first journey together....not even once.

antique additions

we welcomed a couple new antique additions to our family yesterday thanks to my grandmother.  this old piano is something she has been willing to part with for quite some time.  it was just a matter of getting lots of muscles together to move it over.

we decided to take off the front wood panel because the guts of the piano look so cool.

if our online searches are correct for the model number on this baby it's from the 1920's.  it's not in great working condition but i wanted it mostly for the looks anyway.

then i saw this old trunk while i walked around my grandma's shed with her.  i loved the look of it and she could tell, so she offered it to me. 

i think this is going to be great for the art room to organize some of my supplies.

i love making a place for new/old items in my house.  old stuff is way better than new stuff in my opinion.

lucky number 3

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the winner of the giveaway is............
camille!  congratulations on your little blob and winning this little painting!

new loves

 my latest addictions include...

sno-caps and all their cute little sno-cappy goodness.

this tv show thanks to my mom lending me the seasons she owns.

adding new decor to the house. 

za husband isn't a new addiction...i've been pretty addicted to him for quite some time now.

p.s.  there is still time to enter the giveaway.  a winner will be announced this weekend so hurry and comment if you haven't already. 

mushroomy garland

every once in a while i get a good idea which results in something like this....

about 4 years ago i bought several of these mushroom ornaments at an after christmas sale.  while doing some early spring cleaning i found these cute shrooms and decided to make a simple little garland that would compliment my art room quite nicely

ta da!!! 

instant cuteness.

p.s.  if you haven't done so already....check out the giveaway.  it's ending this friday.

decorating fever

can christmas please be here really soon?

not only did i get a smokin' deal on a big pretty christmas tree, but i found these adorable decorations and wrapping items for next to nothing.  now i am about to freak out because i can't really imagine waiting so many months to use my fun new stuff.  i might end up doing something drastic like decorating a christmas tree in the summer.  you just never know with me.

p.s.  don't forget about the giveaway.  friday the 14th is your last day to enter.

generosity & a giveaway

while reading a few of my favorite blogs i saw this.  it made my heart happy and i was compelled to make a small donation.  when you feel it....act on it.  something i learned from my parents growing up.  next thing i know za husband and i are out running errands and we stop in the starbucks drive thru.  while waiting in line i was discussing the happy feeling i got after donating and i told him about two more charitable things i was planning on.  we get up to the window and i hand over my debit card to pay when the nice girl informs me that the car in front of us paid for our order.  we were stunned and couldn't stop smiling the whole way home.  it was an "i eat rainbows, and poop butterflies" kind of moment.  i wanted to find that person and give them a hug.  the stranger in front of us will probably never know how much they made my day.  like i always say, it's the little things.  in light of that i'm in the mood for another generous act.  i will be giving a painting from my shop to one of you lucky commenters.

[love is the key #2 of 5, original 5x7 acrylic painting on canvas]

to enter:

1. be friendly--i know i'd like to make a new blog friend and i'm sure everyone else out there would too, so become a follower of a blog you've been admiring lately. 

2. leave a comment below about anything wonderful (could be something little or something big) anything you are happy about.

contest will end friday, january 14th and i'll announce the random winner next weekend. 

flashback friday #3

circa november 2009

what a surprise.  i had forgotten about this disposable camera that was given to me quite a while ago which prints the picture on hello kitty paper.  i had know idea what was on the camera so it was like finding buried treasure when i picked them up all developed at the store.  these shots were taken the day before we became mr. & mrs. at our wedding location in the mountains. 

looking at these images brings back a flood of happy memories. 

yummy

one of my goals for the year is to cook more often.  for the first few months of our marriage i was all about cooking.  then we had all the drama with buying our house and making an unexpected move in between and i lost my culinary spark while all my kitchen tools were boxed up in storage.  i am quite happy to report that when i got home from work last night i did it.  i wasn't thrilled about the idea of scrubbing veggies and chopping and stirring but i pushed myself and taaaa daaaa....a masterpiece.  the best vegetable lasagna in the world (in my opinion).  i'm not big on following recipes so i just go with what comes to mind and sometimes the end result is amazing or sometimes just so-so....this was amazing.  vegetables used included....spinach leaves, zuchini, red cabbage, onion, sun dried tomato, artichoke hearts, squash, and probably a couple others that i can't remember.  hooray for goals!    

a little birdie told me

evidence that we have lots of birds in our yard all the time.

well there is other evidence, but i thought their footprints were much cuter than a picture of their poop.

eye shadow

i have quite the collection of makeup.  up until the last couple years i was pretty adventurous about trying the wildest colors.  lately i am usually in a hurry and i go for whatever mild quick look i can acheive.  a goal of mine is to get back to my makeup wild side more often.  mission accomplished for one day so far of this year.

M.A.C shadows used to create this look...bio green, bright sunshine, plumage, and vellum

memory collages

while cleaning out some clutter i decided to make 3 pretty special collages.  among the images/scraps i gathered from magazines and such are things which are significant to our relationship like wristbands from dates we went on, scraps from the favor at our wedding, squished coins from disneyland, etc.  i always wondered what i would do with the tiny treasures i saved.....now they are safely tucked away and ready to display on the walls of our home.

peeking

i peeked out the blinds this morning to discover..................

SNOW!

i love it....especially because it covers some of the weeds in our back yard.

1.2.11

january 2nd is always the day we celebrate my brother.....because it is his birthday. 

for those of you who don't know...this is brandon, my younger brother.

we were basically best buds growing up because it was just us to keep each other entertained.  doesn't mean we didn't get in the occasional make a fat lip body slam sort of fight at the ripe old ages of 4 and 6.  no biggie, we still loved each other 99% of the time.  he's laid back, funny, and smart to name a few things.  it is a guarantee that if you spend time with brandon you are sure to laugh because of his quick wit.  when we hang out nowadays he makes fun of me most of the time.  example......skye/boz drawing. 

among other things we celebrated by playing cranium (yes we are slightly obsessed with that game lately)

i won't mention any names but someone pictured below got crazy competitive like she usually does and spent some time attacking her teammates when they weren't playing up to her standards...

it's ok...we still love you mom, especially when you have firework eyeballs.

p.s.  i really loved the fact that she made sure the fuse parts were positioned upward on both and told me they were the eyelashes.   

1.1.11

our celebration last night and early this morning was wonderful except for the part when i threw a fit and tried to spoil the fun.  not really, but kind of.  my brother didn't think i would give an accurate account of my behavior on here so i'm going to prove him wrong. 
i fixed dinner for mom and myself, my mom came over and baked cookies that were insanely delicious, the guys had pizza.  we played 3 rounds of cranium and laughed like crazy.  my mom brought over fireworks.  i don't know what it is about guys but they all seem to be obsessed with anything explosive or dangerous, so of course they were trying to find the ways to make the fireworks most intense like attaching them to each other and lighting them all at once.  my mom is just down for whatever fun she can have so she was joining in with the guys and laughing. 

i on the other hand was paranoid and thinking someone from our very quiet neighborhood would get mad and call the police or i worried that something would catch on fire.  so i was freaking out and lecturing everyone while they made fun of me and got annoyed with me. 

i guess you can blame it on the fact that i've had an issue with fireworks from the time i was born basically.  every fourth of july was an issue during my childhood because i would beg to have my dad take me to the car or go home while i clung to him.  i guess i was just born uptight.  there is even a story in my journal from when i was about 3 years old about how my primary teacher at church was discussing that the 4th was coming up and it would be fun because we'd watch fireworks and i got up and told the entire class different.  i told them how fireworks are bad and they scare you.

[i'm more of a sparkler kind of girl]

 
anyway, my family all jokes about my stubborn bossy uptight nature and they frequently call me boz...for those of you that don't know boz is one of my moms dogs.  he is a very bossy little guy and he has a tendency to sometimes spoil the fun. 

i love boz a lot and so does my mom.  i can see how boz and i could be put in the same category.  my brother went as far as to draw a picture of boz with my face on his body.

he certainly entertained the group with that drawing because they couldn't stop laughing.  i pretended to pout a little but it was funny i guess. 
i'm glad that despite being picked on for most of the night i had such a fun time with my family.  in my opinion there wouldn't have been a better way to start a new year except for maybe a trip to disneyland....maybe.