Update for February

February was a rough month. Okay, so it wasn't literally. February was a great month. I was just so lazy that I haven't updated my blog. So I'm updating today for the last few weeks. There are lots of pictures. I hope you like!

Oh Moose, he is a sweety pie. I know I don't look good but I had to take a picture of Moose cuddling with me. He really is the sweetest dog. I wish he would live forever.

When Rob got his smoker, I knew he was excited. I didn't know he was this excited. He smokes food almost every weekend. It is some of the best food I've ever had. Rob is a good cook anyway, but the smoker has taken it to a whole new level. So this picture is him taking notes while he smokes. He writes down everything from the rub he used, the times he checked it to when it's finished and it's temperature. Now that is someone who wants to perfect his cooking skills! I wish I was more like Rob in this sense.

This fancy picture of food is shredded pork. Rob made this for the Superbowl party. It was fantastic. There was so much that he wanted to give it away but I didn't want to. I wanted to keep it all for myself.

Here are some ribs he smoked the following weekend. They were good. His first set of ribs were better. They fell off the bone. These were good too. I hope he makes some of these soon!

My dear friend got some flowers from her mom for her birthday. They showed up after she left work already on a Friday. She said that it would be okay for me to take them home for the weekend and babysit them which made me happy. I love flowers. I wish someone would send me flowers too.

So Monday when I took her flowers to work and we were looking at them because they were so pretty, we noticed a petal and the leaf were combined. Weird. Have you ever seen this?

On one of the days I was driving to school I passed the trax station. Now you wouldn't notice it at first but this picture is really of the bag sitting on the bench. Someone forgot their bag of groceries after getting on the train. I felt kind of bad for this person imagining the frustration and annoyance of realizing you left something behind. I hope that someone who needed the food found this.

On another night at school, when I was walking to Sociology, the moon was rising. It was so full and so pretty. In this moment I wish that I had a better camera so I could take a picture of it more close up. This picture doesn't do the scene justice.

Since joining craft websites, I feel like a junky. I can't get enough crafts. I saw this awesome heart pillow pattern and decided I would try it. Sadly, when I tried to crochet it, it was very difficult with the yarn it called for. So rather than giving up, I decided to make a little pillow still using my loom knitting stuff. This is it. I absolutely love cuddling with this.

And of course I have to have a picture of one of my cats. Isn't she stinkin' cute!

This is just to funny! He drags this bone around everywhere.

Ferren! I believe she is 20 weeks along in this picture. Almost time for another picture! It's pretty exciting going along with her pregnancy. Counting the weeks, wondering how big the baby is. I can't wait to meet the little boy growing. Ferren and Ken will be great parents. But I'm gonna be the most awesome, special auntie Melissa!

What is this?, you ask. Yes, that is my engagement ring. I am engaged. Sorry everyone, off the market forever! Actually, I've been off the market for a long time but now it's official. There is no special story about how he proposed, not yet at least, but I can tell you we are both excited. It's weird, I was starting to wonder if I would ever get married again. I was okay either way but this is exciting. It's almost like I don't know what to think about it, is this real type of thing. But it is real. And we're really ready to start a family. That's my main goal in life, to have my own family. And now it's all happening. Ahhh now this is what makes me giggle and feel joy. Anyway, I'm thinking (actually I'm pretty sure) that we are eloping to the Virgin Islands. Doesn't that sound awesome! So if you want to meet us there when we decide to go, you're more than welcome. But the cost is on you.

I decided to go try on dresses. I want to look pretty when I get married. The only part about dress shopping that I really didn't like is being the center of attention. Not that I don't like making people smile and stuff but this was awkward. I also didn't like feeling bad for the sales girl because she wanted me to buy a dress and I had no intentions of buying a dress.

I really like the tea length dresses but I was worried that they would make me look shorter than I already am. But when I tried this fun dress on my mind was changed. The dress is fun and it totally fits my personality. So with that said, I will probably get a tea length dress.

I love lace. This dress was beautiful. It was classic, simple, elegant. And I didn't realize it made me look wide in the hip area until seeing the picture. I was really sad that this dress didn't complement me that well. I am wondering though, if the lace was a different pattern, would it look better. I think I'll be trying more dresses on. Maybe I can get a pretty lace dress in a tea length style.

Here is another lace dress. I really like lace. I was if-y about this one. It is really pretty but I don't think it is my personality.

I think this flower hair clip is awesome! My neighbor showed me how easy it would be to make my own, so I probably will. It's just so neat and different. So now the question is, what color should I make mine?

Alright folks, that's it for now. I can't believe we are about to start March. Which means, I've had this blog for nearly a year. I've had active times, down times, completely stagnant times with this blog. I hope to keep going with all the pictures and updates. As time goes on, I may not post pictures every week, but I may be posting updates about the exciting new adventures I'm about to embark on -- wedding details, TTC details, my friend's pregnancy adventures, school drama. I can honestly say that I am the most happy right now than I think I've ever been. I feel like I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be in my life and it feels good. Goals are being accomplished, new joys are coming my way, I feel crafty again, and making new goals seems to be easy. The rocky road I was on has come to an end. That's not to say I'll never be on another rocky path but next time I'll be prepared to OWN IT!

BTW, does anyone know any bloggers who get paid for blogging? I would honestly love to start blogging more and getting paid for it. If I could blog about fitness, family planning, depression, obstacles in life, crafts, or anything (even fiction) and get paid to do it, I would really love that. If  you have any suggestions about how I can get started for this, let me know.

Love y'all!

Plants, animals, and pork

Good morning! Happy Super Bowl day!!!

I have a very busy day today. Beyond watching football and cleaning pre-game, I have tons of homework. Today's post will be short, sweet, and full of love.

This is the terrarium I made at work. I'm very happy it's doing well. The one that I made at home is not. I'm not sure what I did wrong at home but the poor guy is dying on me. But the one at work is very happy.

Earlier this week, Natalie and I were talking about Sons of Anarchy. We were both laughing how Clay looks like an ape. So when I came across this picture in my biology book, I had to send it to Natalie. No doubt, this is Clay down to the bones.

Don't mind the dirtiness of the walls, it's an old house. Taj on the other hand can't stand to be left out of anything. I was in the bathroom and he wanted in. I probably stood there for 5 minutes watching him bat his paw under the door. He was meowing and even paused for a minute to paw at the door. Nosy cat has to know what I'm doing at all times.

Ever see a dog hold his toy upright? Yeah, Moose does this pretty often.

And then once he had the toy where he wanted it, he started cleaning it before chewing on it.

Rob is smoking pulled pork for the super bowl. I'm so excited!!! I think he smoked about 16 pounds. I can't wait to have some!

I know this is an odd picture, but I had to put it in here. My neighbor made 7 layer bean dip for the super bowl. She made so much she didn't have room in her fridge for all of it. So she asked if it would fit in my fridge. I sent her this picture and said, "will it fit?"  Needless to say, yes it fit. Her husband will bring over the rest of it today. There's gonna be lots of food today. I can't wait to eat my heart out!

That's it for this week. Hopefully next Sunday I will have better pictures. This week was sort of chaotic. I have two tests tomorrow, a rough draft due by Wednesday, another assignment due Wednesday and some birthday stuff to plan. Geez...the life of a college student that works full-time is insane. I'll for sure be taking some pictures today of the awesome food, pictures tomorrow of the school, pictures Wednesday of IDK yet...and some point this week I'll take a picture of Natalie's terrarium that is going to live because I demanded it too. That's it! Have a great week! And I'll see y'all next week!

CIAO!

Few days late but not coming up short...well maybe a little bit

Well this week's pictures are more about my life than anything. These are some of the things I see every  day and I just thought maybe my viewers would like to see through my eyes for a moment.

I bought a lamp for my desk specifically for my new terrarium. The ambiance that it emits is awesome though. Why didn't I buy one sooner? Well, I don't have a good answer for that question.

Time to start the shakes and get lots and lots of good vitamins.

I took this picture because I can't believe it's the end of January and there are ducks swimming in the pond. Normally this time of year the pond is frozen, there is snow everywhere and the ducks are long gone. Are we getting new seasons now? Either way, I like not having snow, I just wish it was 10 degrees warmer.

So here is a quick peak at my desk. My cubicle. My cubbyhole that I spend 40+ hours a week at. Do you think its homey like?

And another shot. I really do like plants now. Like I'm adopting more and more as the days go on.

Here is the team unity tree. I love this tree. It's so creative. It might be time for it to come down now though. Time for a new team unity project.

Oh Taj...this silly cat. There needs to be noise with this picture. Like the one lion for MGM movies that goes RAR...yeah I think that's what this picture needs.

Look at that tongue! I took several pictures to get a good shot of her  tongue. She moves that think like a stealth plane. She's such a princess too. She's always cleaning herself.

Okay, most dogs look totally excited when they have a bone in their face. Right? Well I think more than anything he is pouting because I'm not paying attention to him. Sorry, I had a lot of homework to get done. He just looks so sweet though.

After he realized I wasn't gonna play, he decided to nap. At least he kept his bone close by. Taj is known for playing with his stuff.

That is all for last week. Busy week, lots of pictures, and hopefully this week will be much better!

Plants, Animals, and that's it this week!

Hi Y'all...

I'm kind of boring this week. I have pictures of plants, Buddha and a koi, plants, and animals. I was pretty excited about all the plants I handled this week. I made Rob a terrarium for his desk, I made one for home and I made one at work. I wish I had thought to take pictures of every one's terrariums at work but I totally spaced it! So here are this week's pictures (all on the same post Nutella)!

I took this picture because I thought it was just too funny that they were both sitting on the table looking out the window. They both do this. I wonder if they wish they were out there or just waiting to see something interesting. I never thought in my entire life I would love cats the way I love these two. I wasn't even a cat person. But somewhere along the road I found that I love these two more than anything. They entertain me and they make me wonder what's going on in their heads. Maybe I should've been a veterinarian?

Here is the terrarium I made for Rob. I'm totally addicted to the idea of putting a plant in a container and letting it help take care of itself. It's so easy and so much fun! I am definitely going to make a few more terrariums for home. 

Buddha! Koi! Oh how I think you're so awesome! I got these two things to go in my terrarium for work. I thought Buddha was going to be smaller and when he showed up all I could think was "shit, he's too big." Oh well, I still think he is awesome. I'll post a picture of my terrarium next week. I'm going to try to find a small Buddha for my terrarium, like the koi, but I'm keeping the giant Buddha next to it because it just looks cool! Yeah, I think I'm turning into a Buddhist. I'm interested in that way of life more than the regular religion's suggestions, although they have many similarities.

Okay, this was just too funny. Moose and Taj hanging out in the tub together. I'm not sure why but it was cute. I actually took like 15 pictures of them in there. I just liked this one the most because Moose looks like he is smiling.

And another picture of Taj. I was doing homework yesterday next to the Taj Mahal box and Taj decided he wanted to hang out. This was his pose. As my dear friend Fred says, he looks so regal. Yes he does.

I know I have other pictures of my money tree but I took a new one to show how good he is doing. I have a new love for plants. I don't know about gardening just yet but the idea of having a bunch of house plants gets me excited. I like learning about how they grow and react to certain things. I like taking care of them and seeing them flourish. It's just really interesting. I'm actually realizing that plants are living and live happily when you nurture them. I never thought I would turn into a lady who likes cats and plants. Am I a weirdo?

Well, here is the terrarium I made at home. I put way too much dirt in Rob's terrarium the first time, so when I took it out, I took one of the extra stems because his terrarium was pretty crowded and made a terrarium for home. I had this little gnome sitting on a shelf looking kind of sad he wasn't in a garden. I got him from one of those little tiny garden gnome box kits they had at Barnes and Noble one time. I really love gnomes. They're so stinking cute! If I were able to decorate my yard with flowers and such, I would have to have gnomes everywhere. So I had this gnome hanging out on a shelf looking lonely and knew he was perfect for this terrarium. What's your thought?

January 15th Post

Sorry Natalie, but this week the pictures are all going on the same post. It's because they are all so similar.

This week's pictures are kind of boring. School started this week and quite honestly, I was exhausted. Needless to say, I have a few pictures to share. Let's start with the plant pictures. On Monday, I had this great idea that we could do terrariums for craft day. I got everyone on board to do this so I ordered all the plants. The next few pictures will be of the plants that I ordered on Amazon that arrived. They are all so cute and now I have about a billion ideas on different terrariums.

I took all the pictures with my phone so the pictures are not the greatest quality. Sorry!

The first plant is a Jade plant. This is the plant that I wanted, and have been wanting actually. A few other people also picked this plant. The Jade plant is called the good luck plant, the friendship plant, and the money plant.

 This picture is to show you the size comparison. Tiny huh!

 This next plant is the Venus Fly Trap. I have to admit that after seeing this guy I wanted one! It's so stinking cute!

 And another size comparison.

 Here is the adorable fern that Natalie picked. I'm definitely going to get me one of these down the road. I'm planning on doing a giant terrarium for fun and after seeing this, this fern is a must have. I totally love it!

 Taj was napping and I thought it was so cute how he was using the arm rest as a pillow. If you notice, he also has his front paw curled. That's how he sleeps, he always curls his front paw up. Goofy cat.

 Okay, this picture had to be posted. Taj always torments Ava. The fact that they were laying next to each other is a miracle. The fact that they were somewhat cuddling...now that is an angel's doing. It didn't last for long, but long enough for me to get a picture and enjoy it. I think they're both trying to make this kitty-living-together arrangement work finally.

That's it for this week's pictures. I'll hopefully have some funner pictures next week. Especially since we'll all have our terrariums done. Have a good week!

Weekly Updates Instead of Daily

Natalie has suggested that we update our blogs weekly rather than daily. Our daily lives are just too busy for us to remember to update every day. I agreed. Therefore, I will update my blog every week with at least 7 pictures.

I have included pictures from the last few months as well as the last week for this update. I'm pretty proud of some of the pictures I took in my photography class and can honestly say I hope that my photos for this blog start getting better. In the meantime, here is this weeks update:

I took this picture at Thanksgiving Point when they were doing all their Halloween stuff. I was taking pictures of pumpkins that day. I love pumpkins, they're cute, weird, ugly and make great pictures.

 For the color assignment, I was driving in the canyons hoping to get pictures of the awesome fall colors. Yeah, that didn't happen. I was about a week too late. When I was driving out of the canyon I saw a kid's playground and thought to myself, what the heck...I have a ton of pictures to take still.

I climbed up the playground having a new respect for these jungle gyms to get some fun shots. I don't remember these playgrounds being that hard to climb, so either I'm not in great shape or I was monkey like as a child. Hmmm.

Anyway, I took this picture looking up at the sky. If you can't figure out what it is, I'll tell you. This is the rooftop to the slide. Pretty neat perspective huh?!

Ahhhh, the bloody final for photo. I hated this assignment. I couldn't think of anything I really wanted to do a photo journal on. I was honestly pissed. So I decided to do it on hot beverages. Lame!

Even though I hated the assignment, I liked this picture. The coffee beans smelled fantastic as I took this shot. And even though the color is a little boring, I like how the picture turned out.

I took this picture for the final as well. I think its so cool how I was able to get the details of the tea flakes in this shot.

Natalie signed me up for a cookie contest even though I told her I don't bake. But seeing how I am down to learn a new skill, I decided to take on the challenge. If I was going to be in a contest, then by god I was going to do a good job.

These are fudgy cappuccino crinkles and they were divine. I didn't win the contest but I'm glad I did it anyway. I learned how to make cookies that are 5 thousand times better than any store bought cookie there is.

I was given 2 books on cookie recipes after the contest, which means I'm definitely going to be making cookies throughout the year now. I don't even feel guilty about eating them because they really aren't that bad for you. Shhh, the lies I tell myself. Okay, but honestly, they don't have preservatives like store bought cookies or all that extra weird stuff they put in them. They have simple ingredients which make them real food.

NAM NAM NAM Call me the cookie monster now!

The holidays this time of year are not my favorite. I never really was a fanatic about Christmas and now Thanksgiving has kind of lumped itself in there. This is personal feelings and I don't have a grand explanation about it.

I was trying to be festive though. I made this miniature fireplace for my desk to keep me in the holiday spirit. And it worked to an extent. Actually, it's after the new year and I still haven't taken it down. It's just tooo cute to take down. I will this week though. I promise.

A little while ago, Natalie's daughter came to work with her. I asked her to write me a song and this is it. This is my song! Enjoy!

The Taj Mahal...this is Taj's house. He adopted this box when the ham arrived. This is the cat who thinks he is a dog until a box shows up. He loves all boxes; small, large, long, short, skinny, etc. He is a box master. I have trained him to go inside his box to show it off too. It's just too cool, I can't throw the box away. Maybe I'll decorate it just for him.

For the last few years I have been doing a vision board. I do this to narrow down the things I really do want to accomplish for the year. It's so rewarding when the year is up and I'm taking it down to put new stuff on it to see what I actually did accomplish. It's like putting it out there and seeing it everyday validates my goals and I actually do it.

I completed my vision board 2012 last night. Yeah, I know it wasn't right at January 1, but it's still the beginning of the year. When I was done I just smiled at it. I felt good about what I put on there. I am focusing on myself (still) in multiple ways as well as getting fit. I have the Spartan Beast race in June that I'm training for. I also put on there some decorating things that I'd like to do and some fashion stuff because I need new clothes.

Even though I don't get everything I want for the year, I still get at least 50% of it. And you know, I'm honestly happy with it. It doesn't mean I won't get those other things, it just means the time isn't right. I'm so glad that I started doing this a few years ago. It gives me a good reason to be proud of myself for the direction my life is going.

Posting

Hi All,

I plan to post pictures within the next week or two.

Thanks!