Day 23

{my favorite you tube video}
Ooh that's a tough one.  This seems to be the one I keep visiting when I need a good chuckle (what a weird word.)  I only wish I got to see this stuff every day.

Day 21

{a website I visit often}
What really caught my eye in the blog world and made me want to blog was www.joythebaker.com
She has the best sense of humor, and cooks super-great things in her kitchen.  I always look forward to her new posts and check in often. 

Day 20

{A recipe I'd like to share}

This weekend I received my new apron (it was love at first sight) from Anthropologie (a store I love to love).  The reason I'm telling you this is that it has made me want to start cooking again ( I went on a brief hiatus) just so I can wear it.  So.... in addition to the recipe for Artichoke dip there will be a picture of me in my apron near the artichoke dip. Cuz' I can.  It's a win-win-win situation. 





Artichoke Dip with artisan bread, salami, apples and Ace Perry Hard cider

Artichoke Dip

• 2 packs cream cheese
• 1 can artichoke in brine or water (not marinated)
• 1/2 cup light mayo
• 1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese
• 2-3 cloves minced garlic

Combine all in a mixer or with beaters.  Bake at 375 degrees F for 30 minutes or so, or put in crock pot for 2 hours.  Serve with crackers, bread, salami, etc.  Enjoy!



Yay for the apron!

Day 19

{a secret talent of yours (or  mine)}
By now it's no secret that I enjoy cooking and photography.  My secret talent?  I can read people very well. What do I mean by that?  I feel I'm pretty good at picking up on developing "chemistry", expressions, notable glances across a room, tensions, sheer joy, etc. But I can usually pick up on something that "hit me as kind of weird" and then a story of interest develops from that weird moment. Maybe it's because I'm a woman and  we all possess this talent?   Maybe it's not really a talent because to a degree most people can pick up on "moments."  It's just that I pick up on a lot more than Aaron.  I'm just sayin'.  Now it's not a secret any more. Crud.

Day 18

{a wedding photo}
This is not your typical wedding photo, but then again, none of them were.  The "semi-professional" who took our formal photos was awful and in my opinion, not ideal.  However, this photo, along with many more awesome black/white photos, was taken by a friend who did a great job capturing the day for us.  For some reason this is one of my favorites:

Day 17

{art piece}
I feel no collection would be complete without a one Maxfield Parrish (at least in my house.)  Here's a

small selection of his work:

Day 16

{a song that makes me cry- or could}

I love my family and the memories that we all created as I grew up in the same old house.  This song makes me think of all of that.  This is the last song I remember being moved by:

Day 15

{Dream House}
Well the answer is definitely NOT the one we're in now.  I'll leave it at that.  My dream house is honestly not too large but big enough.  It's actually a chalet style.  Years ago I saw a floor plan of a 2 story chalet at the Running Y Ranch.  I don't like the appearance of the exterior of the ones I saw there, but I really liked the inside.  From the main entrance you walk directly into the large family room.  In the great room are large windows and a stone fire place in the corner.  On the main floor on the opposite side of the great room are the kitchen, dining room, two bedrooms, a bath in between the 2 bedrooms and a laundry room.  The thing I loved about this plan was the upstairs.  It's actually only the master bedroom with a walk in closet, private bath and loft right off the stairs and outside of the bedroom.  I think that would be a perfect place for an open office/library.  Of course I would tweak a few things, like the garage being connected to the house with a door right into the laundry room, a wrap around deck, dark natural woods as opposed to light, bleached wood, and a larger kitchen to name a few.  I would love to have the house set in the woods, with a stream nearby and some mountains behind us.  Here's the link of the plan I liked: http://www.runningy.com/pdf/RY-FP-PelicanSprings.pdf  
     Maybe I'll be able to have something like this in the future!

There's a joke that goes....

there's a preacher, a rabbi ( I almost typed rabbit...ha ha) and Whitney strapped onto a snowboard again.  That's the joke and the punch line.  If you don't get it at all, I'll tell you what's supposed to be funny about this not-at-all-joke: me snowboarding, AGAIN.  Come to think of it maybe a rabbit and preacher would make for a better post but alas NO!! I'm committed to writing my misery down for posterity.
     To start off, for the whole drive to Shasta I couldn't really tell if I was just uber nervous about snowboarding on a real mountain, a little queasy from the two super sugary lattes I downed earlier that morning or just getting car sick.  It turned out I had a good case of the heeby-jeebies.  I had a feeling I would be okay on the actual mountain, but had worked myself into a fine frenzy stressing out about the dreaded lift.  Strike 1. 
     We got to the mountain and I started to panic.  I asked Aaron every question I could think of.  Me: Aaron, how do I do this? what do I do with this? how does this go on my head? what happens if I die?  You know, questions every beginner snowboarder asks.  Aaron answered patiently and led me toward the bottom of the hill.  Then I saw it.  THE LIFT.  Strike 2.   For your information, I hadn't been to an actual snow park in over 4 years, so I didn't remember much about this whole routine.  Aaron told me I had to strap one foot in and push off with the other then slide my way to the front.  Eh?  What?  Nonetheless, I managed to pseudo-slide myself over to the line at the speed of -5 MPH and got ready to ride the lift.  So far so good.  Aaron then started coaching me about how to get off the lift and I was pretty sure I could handle it.  Turns out I was sooooo wrong. I could not handle it and did not.  I keeled forward on my left knee as if to pray for deliverance and bloodied my knee ( false alarm....I didn't) but couldn't confirm my suspicion because that would mean undoing, well, never mind.  Strike 3.  I think I took an okay run.  But it may have taken me around 1 entire hour of my life to get to the bottom.  However, I saw no obvious blood gushing from any newly developed holes in my body so I was ready to go again.  I had to try again. 
     So, I drug me and my board to the lift and started to psych myself out about the diabolic lift again.  Apparently all I had to do was just stand on my board and lean.  Oh really?  No one told me it was that easy!!  I guess I misunderstood again because it wasn't.  IT WAS NOT EASY.  The second time I landed flat on my backside and wanted to wail like an I don't know what out of the 100% pain that pulsed through my everything.  I groaned and moaned and wanted to pull myself to the snow cave to die. But there was no snow cave.  It turns out I wasn't dying and I still had to get down to the bottom of the blasted hill.  I did and things went a little better, except for every time I fell (only every foot or so), I hit the exact spot on my tailbone that made me repeat the death-groan. After that, I decided to park myself and board at the lodge with my friend who had managed to break her tailbone on the same said lift.  We shared our tragic stories for a couple of hours.  I then became bored and pep talked myself into another run.  Strike 5,090.
    At that point I felt that I really understood what I had to do to overcome the lift.  Several people had coached me in the lodge about how to do it.  It was go time.  It was the same routine as the other two times: feelings of terror as we climbed the Mt.  The point to get off the chair came and I stood up AND.....fell right on my butt again. Ow! Ow! OW!  It was again a fact that I did not get off the lift in an appropriate manner, but I managed to suck it up and decided to go down again.  At that point I was tired and bruised.  Don't get me wrong. I feel like I rode well, until the bitter, bitter end.  I dug my toe-side into the snow and ate it hard.  I had an instant headache and jaw ache.  Crud.  I pulled my tenderized, raw body up and started to go again.  No I didn't. I fell.  Again.  I got Up. Went Down. Up. Down.  Repeat that about 209 times and that was my ride.  Somehow, it ended in weird, unexpected tears and me saying in between sobs " I hate this and want to quit!!"  I managed to get up again and kind of make it to the bottom of the hill where I unstrapped and walked the rest of the way.  Whitney out.  I stomped my way back to the lodge and air dried.
   Now after all of that, one may think that I learned my lesson and will never go snowboarding again.   Oh how wrong you are.   Despite all of that I honestly learned a lot (except how to get off the lift) and plan to try my newly acquired skills this next weekend, with some extra padding on both my knees and butt. To be continued.

Day 14

{What inspires me}
I've realized I REALLY like to go on and on in my posts.  So I decided to keep this one short.  A lot of stuff inspires me, but it's very hard to choose what inspires me when I 'm not sure what area is being covered (for ei. mentally, spiritually, physically, etc.)  I don't know why but today I'm kinda cranky and I don't really feel like thinking that deep.  Let's just leave it at the fact that things do indeed inspire me.  Believe me, you will be the first to hear when I am truly inspired.

Day 13

{a person I can't imagine not having in my life}

He's my lobster, my soul-mate, my strawberry, my buddy, my pal.  He's my in-house comedian, my confidant, my hand to hold and shoulder to lean on.  He's mine, mine, mine and I'd be completely lost without him.  How did I even function before he came along? 

Day 12

{something I'm OCD about}
I feel day 12 would be more appropriate if it said " something I'm not OCD about."  I have a boat load of things that I obsess over, but for the sake of day 12, I will discuss the first thing that popped into my noggin: GERMS (eek!!!!!)  Who knew that the little girl who kissed worms and picked her nose (wasn't me....I don't know who you're talking about....) would be so squeamish, so petrified of germs.  When I sit in front of people who cough and sound like they are trying to hack up a lung, I become concerned.  When I see someone wipe their kids nose and place the tissue on the table in front of me, I want to scream.  One little hair in my food?  May as well have served me a whole plate of hair and then proceed to drop that plate right in the trash.  Needless to say, I have turned into a bit of a germ-a-phobe.  I'm the freaky individual who uses hand sanitizer after every public handle and handshake I come into contact with.  Yes, I'm one of those people.  The sayings "what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger" and " what you don't know won't hurt you" confuse me even more in my struggle of me vs. bacteria.  Sometimes, what doesn't kill you doesn't actually kill you at that moment but could down the road AND if I unknowingly touch a handle right after a snotty nosed kid or adult has, that doesn't mean I won't get their raging cold because I don't know about it.  I have a point right?  I rest my case.  Who came up with these things anyway?

Day 11

{a favorite song}
 When days were cold and rainy- bad enough for a kid not to want to go outside we would find something else to occupy our time inside.  On days like that my mom would play different tapes (remember those?!!)  of her favorite music at the time.  I was subjected to Neal Diamond's song...song...blue, crossed a bridge over troubled waters with Simon and Garfunkel, danced on the ceiling with Lionel Richie, wanted to dance with somebody else with Whitney Houston and then traveled to Carolina in my mind with James Taylor.  As a kid, some of the music made me cringe (read: Neal Diamond) and still does, but not all of it.  I liked James Taylor and Whitney to name a few.  As I've grown into the pseudo-adult I am today, I still return to a few James Taylor songs  for my rainy day music.  In fact, I'm listening to him right now as I type this.  There are several of his songs I like but I have to say 'Carolina in my mind' is my favorite.  It's kind of crazy how every time I hear this song, I go right back to my old house and our living room where this same song was floating through the air....and I feel this warm joy (don't know how else to explain it) as I remember that moment.  It is amazing how a song can take us right back to the moment it really sang to us.  I love that moment and hope you have found such moments of your own. 

Day 10?

{ a picture from over 10 years ago}

 I'm guessing I was 2 or 3 years old here and apparently having the time of my little life.  By the way, I'm going to goodwill tomorrow to see if I can find some shorts similar to these bad little numbers.

YOU made my day!!

I just got back from a great lunch and decided to check my e-mail.  Imagine my utter surprise and sheer delight as I opened several comments from some of my loved ones (you know who you are) telling me that you've actually read some of my posts.  I just wanted to take the time to thank you for stopping by and letting me know what you think of the "baby blog."  It completely made my day and made me want to keep going.  Thank you so much you guys!  And in the words of  the movie 'the Anchorman' Thanks for stopping by and stay classy, but mostly, thanks for stopping by!!

Day 9

{a photo I took}
For those that know me, you know I enjoy photography.  I may not be at the professional level, but I know what I like and what makes me happy, at least as far as photography is concerned.  However, I haven't been taking a lot of pictures lately (code: at all.)  We've been laying low and not traveling to many places lately, so I haven't been snapping photos of anything that caught my eye.  But right now as I write this, I realize that I commonly use that as my excuse for not taking pictures and that I don't have to travel to a new place to take interesting pictures.  Why not take photos of both the everyday AND interesting right here at home?  BRILLIANT!!!!  I have realized a new mission!!  Anyway, here is a photo of a building that struck me on our trip to New York.  The architecture in that city is amazing and this just happened to be the building I saw as I looked up into the sky and wondered where we were going next.

Day 8

{favorite word}
Where would we be without words?  Have you ever thought of that?  I just did.  For roughly two seconds.  I decided we would all be pretty lost, to say the least.  Now that I used my brain, I need to take a nap.  But before I go, I thought I would tell you my favorite word.  And before I do that, something else just popped into my head.  Did you ever watch 'Sesame Street'?  If yes, then I'm sure you remember these guys (they still make me laugh...) and their love of words.   Oh and before I forget, one of my favorite words:  magnanimous.  It's a good word all the way around.  I wonder what the two-headed monster would say to that?

Day 7

{a photo of a favorite memory}

I don't own a picture of this particular memory to show you, but I still have the perfect picture of it in my head.  I was fortunate to live in the same house for over 20 years and always chose the same patch of grass in the backyard to lay down on and stare into the sky.  Sometimes I would pick that spot to daydream or see what shape I could pick out of the clouds.  Other times I'd simply lay there to soak up the sun and burn, baby, burn (my skin is not thanking me today for that memory.)  Then there were the days I would take a blanket, a book and some iced tea to my spot and abandon it to dissect a single blade of grass or watch the tiny bodies of bugs scurry by as Whitney-the-giant overhead watched.  No matter what I was there for it always felt right, and relaxing.  It still does.

day 6

{20 random things about moi}
1. Yesterday I broke a month long record of not shopping for ANY clothes for myself. Darmit.
2. I love the rain and waking up to it.
3.I tell people they need to floss daily but I don't even do it myself.
4. My favorite flower is a tulip.
5. I'm obsessed with lists and will actually do what I need to if I write it out on a list.
6. I didn't really start wearing full on makeup until I was 19 or 20 and still feel like I have a lot to learn.
7. I have a  short temper but try my hardest to control it.
8.I can't decide if my favorite color is blue or red.
9. In 4th grade I was one of the wicked step-sisters in the play 'Cinderella.'
10. I didn't get my first cavity until I was 23.
11. When I was little I wanted to be a gymnast.
12. The first concert I went to was Sara Evans (country)
13. I'm obsessed with magazines.  I have piles of them around my house.  So does my mom, sister, grandma and great aunt.  I'm pretty sure it's hereditary.
14. I feel I was born in the wrong era.  I would love to be a full time housewife.
15.  I'm a sucker for a quick wit/good sense of humor (that's what caught my attention with Aaron.)
16. I panic before going into a room full of people.
17. I grew up watching musicals and LOVE them. 
18. My sister and I didn't really like each other until I was 18 or so.  I think she's one of the best people I know.
19. If I was born a boy, my name would have been Tyler.
20. I both fear and love the ocean.

Day 5

{favorite quote}
     When times seem difficult and there seems to be no comfort, I remember this:  "Throw your burden upon Jehovah himself, and He himself will sustain you.  Never will he allow the righteous on to totter." Psalms 55: 22

Day 4

{a favorite book}
It seems that I devour books these days.  The ones I've read lately have been very un-noteworthy indeed.  However, one of the books I have fallen for, albeit months and months ago, is 'The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society,'  by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.  I felt it was a well written, thoughtful story that made me laugh, cry AND think (but only a little.)  And that is the recipe for an awesome read!

Simple pleasures

     Does this image seem familiar to you?  Let me give you a hint...it sounds like sario druthers.....YES!! YOU ARE SO RIGHT!! It is 'Mario Brothers.'  Do you remember this game? I sure did/do.  Back in the day, when I was a youngin', we didn't have a Wii and all those nifty gadgets to...do whatever you do with them.  Instead, we had a Nintendo and we loved it as if it was part of the family, the new baby in the fam.  In fact I think my mom remembered its' name better than mine.  Well, Nintendo recently came to stay with Aaron and I.  I forgot how much fun he is!!  Last night we had some friends over to reacquaint themselves with good ol' Nintendo and even they found him delightful!!  We took turns and after one team ran out of lives we switched. Boys team, girls team, etc.  Slowly but surely we remembered where all the hidden coins, mushrooms and flashy-stars were hidden.  Then we made sure to take a break  and refuel on cookies and beer.  We are, after all, responsible adults these days.    It just took us all back to when we were just little kids and the Nintendo was the "big deal."   Even back then things were easier, much more simple (if you don't believe me compare the graphics above to any video game today!) and enjoyable.  Ah memories...

Day 3

{my favorite TV show}
     "30 Rock."  I want to go to there.  If you're reading this and don't understand what that last sentence means, don't be cry, it ok. :0)



the original Liz Lemon in her cupcake PJs

Me in my liz lemon PJs (this is for you Cam and Mel!)

Day 2

{my favorite movie}

     Hands down, my favorite movie for the longest period of time has to be "Pride and Prejudice."  I've been a reader most of my life but never read Jane Austen.  My friend Katie actually introduced me to Jane Austen by lending me one of her copies of 'Pride and Prejudice."  I was so impressed by the simple yet captivating story that I've become a true fan ever since.  I've since watched both the BBC and Keira Knightly versions and I actually like the latter the most ( I know Katie will have something to say about that :0)  .)  I love it for the cinematography and the swoon-worthy Mr. Darcy.  Whenever I'm sick, feeling sad or just want to stay inside and snuggle up on the couch, this is usually the first DVD I choose.

Day 1

{A recent picture of moi}
     Aaron, a camera and I spent the day at Union Creek campground last month taking what I refer to as "couple pictures."  Because I didn't even think about getting engagement photos done when we became engaged, I now insist every couple of years to make these pictures all on our own (and to make them look as professional as we unprofessional(s) can.)  We've tried this method twice now and have fun trying to come up with interesting poses amidst a beautiful background.  After a couple hours of posing the pictures, focusing and running like crazy to  make it to our marks before the auto-timer goes off, we tire of the game.  Soon afterwards, we head over to a little diner outside of the campground called "Becky's" and enjoy a nice warm meal (with one complimentary refill of our hot chocolates I might add.)  We then head home to look at our pictures on the computer.  Here's one of our creations:

All about me in 30 days....

I have A LOT to learn about this blogging bid'ness.  There is something out there in the blogosphere called a 'meme.'  I don't know what a meme is anymore than a meme knows what I am.  From my research of a meme (google) I think I have gathered that this meme thing is somehow a link to other people's blogs and it helps other bloggers get to know eachother ( I'm not so sure about that.)  Whatever....this strange term brought about a list called "All about me in 30 days" and every day is a new detail about me.  Here it is:

Day 1: current picture of me

Day 2: favorite movie

Day 3: Favorite TV show

Day 4: a favorite book

Day 5:  a favorite quote

Day 6: 20 random things about me

Day 7: A photo of my favorite memory

Day 8: favorite word
Day 9: A photo I took

Day 10: A photo that is over 10 years old

Day 11: Favorite song

Day 12: Something I'm OCD about

Day 13:  a person I can't imagine not having in my life

Day 14: what inspires me

Day 15: dream house (description of photo)

Day 16: song that makes me cry (or could)

Day 17: art piece ( sculpture,drawing, etc.)

Day 18:  wedding photo

Day 19:  hidden talent of yours

Day 20:  a hobby of mine

Day 21:  a recipe I'd love to share

Day 22: a website I visit often

Day 23: current favorite 'you tube' video

Day 24: what I learned this past month

Day 25: my day in great detail

Day 26: a picture of somewhere I'd like to travel

Day 27: what's in my purse right now

Day: 28: Worst habit

Day 29: Hopes, dreams, plans for the next 365 days

Day 30: Goals for the future beyond the next year