3 vases

I am making it a sort of "thing" that when I get flowers I separate them up and place them in numerous vases... sharing the love around my house :) Well, actually stil my apartment... but soon a house. In fact, we are in the process of buying a house :) Yes, yes we are!

So after Valentine's Day was over, and I was done tossing cookies, I set to separating my beautiful flowers and displaying them in the 3 small vases I have in the bathroom... previously seen here.


The bathroom is the one room in my apartment that I am thoroughly happy in. That sounds really twisted, but it's the one room I felt like I could decorate and be very very satisfied with :) I'll have to post pictures of this in full soon to add to my touring posts.


Spider mums are still one of my faves... next to peonies :)


Ahh, I can't wait for spring!

winter colds stink

Maybe I'm the only one out there who feels this way, but I am personally afraid to write on facebook when I have a cold! I feel like noone will want me near them for the next 7-9 days just in case any germs hop off me onto them and that noone will want to hang out ever again.

I mean, maybe that's a little dramatic, but I find it very annoying. I am not talking about someone being like ill to the point of totally bedridden and throwing up both ends on the hour, I'm talking about the common cold. The kind you get every.single.winter possibly more than once. I don't want someone to come and hang out with me if I'm on my deathbed necessarily but I hate getting the stink-eye if I have a sniffle or a cough.

And truth be told, if someone who has kids puts on facebook that their kids are sick, oh lord help us. The comments that will ensue saying to keep your kids home and away from theirs (obviously sprinkled with some "I hope you all feel better soon!"s in there) But reality is, they will most likely be banned from all social activity for weeks! I am not an advocate of exposing sick children to other sick children intentionally, but at the same time, I'm not about living holed up all winter.

So, if I had a cold, would you still go out with me? *grin*

love and hate

You'd think after almost 26 years of winter I would be less inclined to complain about the things I can't change.

But this year, I'm trying desperately to forget that autumn means winter is coming... and enjoy the heck out of it.

I eternally am in love with fall. The cool crisp air. The way smells travel through the air permeating the senses with a feeling of warmth even in the midst of a chilly day.

The leaves changing color is a beautiful reminder that we get a chance each year to brush ourselves off and start again new.

I love the season, hate the reminder of the dead cold winter. Winter's one redeeming quality in my book is that there is a lot of white. And I like white. Also, Christmas is in winter... but I'm a fan of hibernation January-March. Who's with me?

will it ever be green again?

It happens every winter. Right around the same time too.

I look out the window and wonder in all seriousness if I will ever see green again.



It thoroughly astounds me how every year we run through the same cycle. Complete deadness in the winter, though covered in white... which is a color I associate with life {I find such irony in that}... to a month or so of melted patches on the ground and lots of dead branches and brown hues rampant across the ground. And then before you know it, single green seedlings pop through the soil... and my heart remembers that Spring never fails to come.

But like I said, I just cannot see how we will see any of these ever again. My imagination is stunted, if I hadn't seen it happen so many times before I just wouldn't believe it could happen...



Living in a part of the world where the four seasons are all very evident is a blessing and a curse. I love the changing seasons, but there comes a time in the midst of each one that I wish for another. I often think I would be happier in a place that was {mostly} green all the time. But somehow I think I would lose appreciation for these months as we see new life return.

btw - the spring pictures are from last year {obviously} ;) April 11th actually.

Will it be green in just 44 days again?

Jingle bell run

About a month ago I decided it was time to start getting serious about running again. Especially since I began going to Crossfit with Andrea. I've been doing Crossfit 2 days a week and then supplementing the other days with running, so all in all I've been working out 3-4 times a week, woohoo!

And that my friends is probably the only reason I haven't gained 100 pounds due to the cookie consumption that has occurred this month!

It's always easier to get up in the morning and get going when you have someone waiting for you. Expecting you to get your booty out of bed since they had done the same for you! So my friend Holly and I decided that we would start running together with the purpose of running a 5K sometime soon. I heard about the jingle 5K and was super excited about doing that, but alas, that particular 5K was 2 days after we actually started running. Training time fail.

But I still wanted to tie jingle bells to my sneakers and do a jingle bell run, so last week when Melissa gave me jingle bells with my Christmas present I was all set to do a pre-Christmas jingle bell run! I took a couple over to Holly the next day and this morning we met to do our best run yet.





We're so on our way to running a 5K especially now that we're getting used to running in such cold temps! The coldest we've run so far was 10 degrees, that was really killer, I do not recommend doing that. Today we were up to almost 20, but still in the teens. Crazy, I know, but somehow it's so much fun!

I love my running buddy!

I went to Narnia

and I have a picture to prove it



make-believe is SO not overrated...

do you hear what I hear?

As you may have noticed, by about oh say NOVEMBER 1st, I had already failed NaBloPoMo. I tried though, I mean, even if it wasn't going to be 30 posts in 30 days, I wanted to come darn close. And up until the 18th I was doing "ok" *ahem*

That's enough said about that. I have missed so many things in my blogging absence. Seriously, why have a blog if you're not going to blog? It adds stress to my life when i DON'T. So I do. Or at least in my head i do...

Today I had a family photoshoot out in bloomfield... which brings me to the real part of this post. Yesterday came the abrupt end to our indian summer when the fierce lake effect snow from lake erie blew in across our region. I like snow... when I don't have to get anywhere near it. It is quite pretty though, and while I was driving along the back country roads on my way back from the shoot, I passed by some very beautiful horses chowin' some hay. I decided to turn around and go back figuring that on this narrow back road, as dangerous as it might be to turn around in snow and ice, there would surely be no cars coming the other direction. Turns out I was wrong... and escaped a near mishap in my quest to photograph a horse.



They were very nice horses. Enjoying standing in the snow about as much as I was. If it weren't for the fence between us, which i realized after touching it that it was probably electric and just wasn't on *at the moment* they would have licked my hand.



I'm having a dilemma with these pictures though. Normally I don't vacillate so much when editing photos, but this time I am. So you can help me out. I put them side by side in both color and very lightly toned bw





What do you think?

I kinda think that he's asking me "do you hear what I hear?" I could be wrong... but i swear i heard him say that...

i'm not dead... really

dear poor neglected blog,

I am so very sorry to have left you alone for so long...

It's not that I don't love you... I'm actually not entirely sure why I haven't used you in over two weeks. I've never done that before...

All I can think is that it's this dang weather that's been keeping me down. When I'm going, I'm going hard! It took me a few months to come off the high of running around so much all the time... and when I got a break, I seriously TOOK A BREAK. lol

So, a few things that I've been doing the last couple weeks:

- taking naps (about 3 times a week)
- getting photoshop cs3 on my computer once and for all
- working on taking pictures for my church's new website and putting them up (once they go live i'll share the link! the site rocks!)
- started running (i'll post more about that later)
- realized that when my dress comes in for melissa's wedding that i WILL NOT fit into it. remember when I said i had probably gained back the 10 or so pounds i lost over the fall... well i did indeed gain it back. plus 3 pounds. yep, that's right. it's going away now.
- went to the Revolution Retreat at my church and have been totally wrecked
- had issues with my small group (cadre) but am now seeing how faithful God is to work it OUT!
- worked out what jewelry the bridal party will be wearing at melissa's wedding (i will post pics when i get it this week, I cannot wait... but I guess i'll have to...)
- got WAY better at tetris... i will soon be the queen
- have become eternally disgusted with snails (more about that later)

Wow, I have just come up with at least 5 topics for new posts.

Oh! and one last thing that I did that i am really excited about, but you will probably think is lame is that I figured out how to reduce noise in a picture! My new camera is super amazing, but sometimes I still have to bump the ISO to 1600 or higher and it's hard to get that real clean creamy quality going on. One day I was thinking, I know there has to be a way to reduce noise in a picture, so I googled free noise reduction photoshop action, and after trying a couple found one that is actually really good! I know, I'm seriously awesome... or seriously lame, lol!

until next time though, here is a pic i took a couple weeks ago before all the snow melted.



and another...



I have more from this series, I should probably post them since they're already uploaded and everything... ok, make that SIX posts in the works now! :)

here comes the sun

and all i have to say is that it better stay!

it only went cloudy for a couple hours this morning and that is when i realized how utterly dependent i am upon these sunny days. I don't know what to do because frankly, it freaks me out to think that every year for the rest of my life i may have to endure a 6 month winter.

A couple years ago i went through some soul searching and asking God to help me to deal with my rollercoaster emotions during the winter months, and I really feel that He has. I have not had so much trouble the last 2 winters, however, now that we're coming out of it... I am scared to think that this nice weather will only last a few months and back to winter it goes!

I am seeing, even as I am writing this, that God does indeed give us grace to go through the things that we are going through. and right now, the grace has run out! So that's what I'm going to bank on... that when winter comes again next year, i'll have a new measure that God's saved up for me... cuz otherwise i'm not sure i could handle it.

Wordless Wednesday with a Twist - part 2

It's that time again. Today's theme is "where you live." I was wondering how in the world i was going to get out and take these pictures... since it is disgustingly cold. and I know that the rules said we could use old pics... but i really didn't have anything worthwhile. So on my way home from work one late afternoon, I couldn't help but notice how perfect the light and the sun were. A rarity around here I try to take advantage of! So off i went and took a very cold walk around the village and this is what i came up with.

After you take a look at where I live, head on over to Rachel's site and check out everyone else's.

highly amusing...

...at least i thought it was. this lovely weather we've been having breeds a certain kind of restlessness in children. it almost seems as though there are not enough crafts or activities that could outlast this horrible winter... at least not any that i can handle doing for any length of time. heavens knows that if i am sick of all our projects, then for sure the kids are too! So i came in this morning to find the bounce house set up in the front room. This thing literally takes up the entire room. wall to wall... and not quite to the ceiling, but dangerously close to the light fixture up there. But guess what! it's works! it totally works! they love it, and it ate away a good hour of fun today.


For some reason today though, andy was being extremely dare-devilish. I often have a certain conversation with him and it goes like this:

Me: you know buddy, you need to take it easy. you're going to hurt yourself if you don't start being more careful.

Him: I not manna, i bein careful and I not get hurt.

Yah, and then he gets hurt... and the crying begins, and he climbs into my lap to make it stop hurting. On my meaner side i almost wanna be like Ha, i told ya so kid, so suck it up! but the other (not fully formed "mom") side of me is like Oh i could just hold you like this forever, and you can cry as long as you want.

There has to be a happy medium.

But, word to the wise. "It's probably not a good idea to lay down in a jump house while your two older and much larger sisters are jumping in it."

Here is the proof that it happened just that way.

On the other hand, I tried to get some cute pictures of the three of them... all did not go as ideally as i would have liked. but are kids ever really ideal? what the heck does that mean anyways? At any rate, i did manage to capture their personalities, which i would dare say is more exciting than ideal.

They really don't have any personality at all

and now for my personal favorite...

the boy is too cute

no... this boy is not one my size, or even close to my age. In fact he's a good 2 feet shorter than I and about 19 years younger than I. Yep, you got it. Little andy is one of my best buds and I spend more time with him than just about anyone else in my life right now.

The other day we were driving in the car when all of a sudden he shouted out, "MANNA WOOK! Dat tree has no leaves on it!!!"

I laughed a little, but not enough for him to notice, and then said back to him, "Yah! Look at all the rest of the trees. Do you see any leaves anywhere?"

And in unfaked awe he looked around to discover that there were indeed no leaves to be seen. He then said, "how that happen manna?!"

I went on to explain how in the fall all the leaves die and the trees are bare all winter long, but in the spring new leaves will grow and we will see them all summer long.

And his response was simply this... and you have to imagine him saying it with the most amazed and shocked, yet quiet and thoughtful voice... "oh my gooosh."

this is one of the best parts of getting to watch little kids grow up :)

i wish

that i had some pictures to post. But since I don't, I am going to write about the things that make me feel good. And since I don't feel really good right now, it will be easy to come up with a list of things that do :)


The very top of the list will be...

Days like today. When I walk out of the house, and the sun is completely up... and i didn't wear a jacket (just a stolen sweatshirt from my brother), i could hear the birdies, and although there is snow on the ground, it's just warm enough that it's starting to melt promising more days to come like this one.

Afternoons and coffee spoons, one of the songs on my playlist right now. I looked up the lyrics, and they don't make a whole lotta sense, but i like the melody. it makes me feel better... and i think it's about being sick haha!

Scrapbooking. I got all my stuff out today and did 2 whole pages! I guess if i had my camera, that's something I could post... but i don't!

the color green.

the color pink.

the color green and pink together.

flowers that are green and pink.

Flowers. Especially when they are popping through the soil in the spring. It's just the beginning of my love affair with them though. the few months of winter where they are scarce are what make them such a treat when they come back!

I love laying in the grass in the summer. Especially this last summer with the kids. We would take a blanket out in the yard and the girls and I would lay on it and read... or just talk. I love that.

Reading a good book.

When the sun is shining like it is today, I make sure to go out on the porch for a few minutes and ingest some vitamin D. It does the body... and the soul good.


There's a lot more I could come up with, but those are top on the list right now. What are some of the things that make you feel better?

it's not ok...

...when I have to put my winter coat on to go do laundry

sooo bored

today is sunny, but ridiculously cold. At the beginning of the winter I was more than happy for any excuse to leave the house... but now, the cold just makes me want to stay inside and keep warm... or at least try to. I haven't even gone to storytime at the library for like a month now. And i don't have money to waste, so going shopping is out of the question.

Last week the girls had off from school... so on tuesday morning we made a "schedule of events."

> Monday they went with their parents to Chuck E Cheese and out to dinner.
> Tuesday we went bowling and to their favorite McDonald's.
> Wednesday we went sledding and got hot chocho after.
> Thursday we went to Adventure landing... which is a child's dream come true, and an adult's worst nightmare.
>Friday they were so pooped from the week's activities we just stayed home and did crafts and stuff.

I think it was tuesday this week when the sun was out and it was actually half way to warm. meaning like 45 degrees! Anyways, it was so great, i let the kids go out and play even though all the homework wasn't done. When you get to this point in the winter, you just have to let go sometimes, right?!

Anyways, i'm longing for spring. I have realized that I haven't been reading nearly as much... acutally not at all... for the last few months. And i came to the conclusion that that is because i am not outside at all! This past summer I can't even count how many times i would go outside book in hand and sit in a chair in the middle of the yard reading... or laying in the grass. It sounds so idealistic i know, that's the only reason i did it ;) it's so much fun!

sledding on saturday!

This last saturday, we had a sledding party at mendon ponds... suicide hill style! I forgot to get a picture of the sign that says "snowboarding, skiing and sledding prohibited." HAHAHA! Good one! Anyways, there were about 20 people give or take that actually came and we had a blast.

We went down the hill with three sled trains, and this was the best of the three. the first one my bottom came off of the sled i was on and i was dragged down the hill bare bottom... yah, it was cold. This was the second one we made...

My two bestest friends were there, Melissa and Alicia! Unfortunately, there aren't any pictures of melissa because she was the awesome one who took all of them! She really did an amazing job... score for stupid hands???

By the time we left, I was pretty much wet through both pairs of the pants I was wearing. Mostly because of the one ride down the hill with no sled barrier.

This was the third and last train we attempted. It started out as a "U" shape for who knows what reason... and then proceeded to completely reverse and while we went down for a little ways, the whole thing came apart and we crashed all over eachother. Wow, this sounds like so much fun when i describe it like that *sarcasm*

After about an hour and a half, we'd had enough, so we left to go in search of some hot chocho... among other things. There were five of us altogether. Alicia, Dave, Christa, Josh and myself. Alicia, christa and i changed into dry clothes and then we headed up to the city in search of Java's. None of us really knew how to get there, so with the limited experience I have driving in downtown, we were just going around in circles. But thanks to melissa, we found it and then had the yummiest hot chocho ever!

while we were at java's we decided that it would be fun to go to a movie... unfortunately, at the dollar theatre, nothing that everyone wanted to see was actually playing. PS I Love You was actually playing which is indeed one of the BEST MOVIES EVER... but stupid boys can be party poopers ya know? (disclaimer for any boys who might read this *i love them anyways*) We ended up settling on Vantage Point which was definitely a "boy" movie, but i liked it anyhow. It did however, lack plot in the beginning... whatever.

we had an awesome time and i can't wait to do it again!!!

my new car!

Today is third day i have had my new car. The first day, i was numb to it. I didn't really know what to think. Yesterday, I started liking it better, and today... it started to feel like an old friend :) I think that's because the layout of the car is so similar to the last nissan i had over 3 years ago. It's the same design, just 12 years newer... yay for new(er) cars!

Anyways, these are the pictures that i promised. I like how the one from the front makes it look so much cleaner... and if you notice, on the side view one "WASH ME" has been written on the side... Such is life in NY in the winter.

pre makeup

amidst cuddling

and post settling in for a wintery snow day

ice... snow... and SUN

This is a follow up from yesterday's post. Yesterday was one of the low points for me in the winter season. It's inevitable and happens every year... but i forget so easily how quickly it can be done away with.

I'll start at the beginning of the day, and you will see the progression.

Woke up. Felt adequately rested, but at the same time had the desire to spend the ENTIRE day/year in bed.

Brushed my teeth, washed my face and exited my room ready to leave for the day with 10 minutes to spare. I sat down to check my email, then moved to the kitchen to take my daily supply of vitamin C and finish the orange juice straight out of the jug. As i took the last swallow, I realized that as I had not de-iced my car the night before and/or taken any precautionary measures to ensure that it would not be *encased* in ice this morning, my 10 extra minutes turned into -5 minutes instantly.

Walked outside, started the car... my pants got wet as the seat had not dried yet from it getting soaked yesterday. Began to chip away at the ice. The chipping soon turned into literal hacking. I was hitting the windows of my car with that blasted ice scraper and nothing was coming off.

15 minutes later. The windshield and the two front windows as well as the rear window had been sufficiently de-iced. made it to work in one piece.

All of this hacking and stressing about ice made me *momentarily* forget about the headache that has been nagging me for 3 days now. It started out like a migraine on tuesday and after medicating, felt MUCH better... but has been persisting with a dull ache in the back of my neck and head.

I began to think of anything that might work as a heat source to put on it, since nothing else felt like it was going to work... and after realizing that there was nothing usable, i decided to head back to my house for a corn sack.

I packed up some things for A and me and we climbed into the car at approximately 7:59am. Once home, I put in Daddy Day Camp and secured my neck with extreme heat from the corn sacks. By about 9am, my head began to feel significantly better. I then decided at about 10am after a conversation about washing hair on the Chinese new year that i did indeed need to wash my hair.

That was the turning point, no doubt. I could barely feel my headache anymore, and I realized that the SUN WAS SHINING!

I feel so energized it's ridiculous. I even wanted to clean! I could honestly make a list right now of all the things i want to do because i feel so good! But what i DID do was take a few pictures.

the snow is a welcome alternative to ICE.


And this face is a welcome alternative to staying in bed :)

Vitamin D and Owen

This is the face i have had to look at all day long. Truly, this picture doesn't even do justice to the patheticness of this poor creature. He will sit across the room in an Eeyore inspired position and then look over his shoulder at me with the most pleading eyes i have ever seen. It speaks to the fact that even dogs feel the gloominess that this time of year hands us. What's funny though is that whenever i say his name, his tail starts to wag... i think that if i had a tail i would wag it too.

I've gotten past the point where my sunny pictures in Brazil no longer make me feel warm... I mean they definitely remind me of the sun and all... but i'm just not inspired by it like i was. It lasted for a couple of months... but right now, especially this week... man it's just depressing!

So poor Owen... at least looking at his face makes me realize that i'm not the only one longing to go outside and run around and not return to the house covered in mud. I can't wait for the sun to break... when it happens, i may just go out in full on sweat gear and take a nap in it. or maybe i could just start taking vitamin D?