Happy Weekend

Have a relaxing weekend everyone! I'm planning on snuggling up with the puppy and sleeping in! That sounds perfecT!

photo by amanda pratt

Picture Dictionary

I was inspired by the picture dictionary and blog you are my fave. Everything around us does represent some essence of life. In a photo we can amplify that even more. Even the word human being, broken down is human BE-ING. To be.

Breeze

Lightbeam

Places I've Skied

Thought it would be fun to quickly see where I've skied and compare the elevations. Ha, this should be funny ie IL.

Wilmot Mountain: Illinois, 260 feet elevation
To this "mini" hills benefit, this is where I went to ski school during kindergarten once a week it was 30 minutes away from where we lived.


Chestnut Mountain, IL. Not too much further from my hometown. Where we hit the slopes during high school / college. About 1.5 hours away.

Elevation: 475 vertical foot drop. No wonder I could do the black diamonds! Ha.

Here's the biggie!
Mount Hood, Portland Oregon
Elevation: 7300 feet! There was the doosey. I went out to OR with good family friends, they had 3 sons. They were very athletic. We night skiied. I tried a black - it was freakishly high. I got tired, I had to stick to the green runs. I had the workout of a lifetime.
Very fun, and very eye ball popping!



There was also a trip to Steamboat with my parents. I thought I saw trolls in the hot tube. But well save that for another time...:)

Sugar, Sugar, Powder, Powder: Skiing Sugar Mountain

Tonight the Boy and I are headed up to Sugar Mountain in North Carolina to hit the slopes with our group of friends from church. I'm really looking forward to it. It wasn't until I checked out the place and the mountain we are at that it really hit me. Sugar Mountain has quite a few trails, the longest running 1.5 miles and the peak is 5300 feet. That's plenty tall for me!

It's been quite a while since I've been skiing, perhaps 4 years. But I'm definately looking forward to it, despite the initial feeling of standing at the top of the bunny hill and holding my breath as I let my skis glide me down. I'll be chanting "pizza pie, pizza pie" all the way as I try to slow myself down. Another hot tip of mine, don't get skiis too tall! The folks may try to talk you into a pair taller then your head but you don't want skiis that go above your chest if your a beginner to intermediate skiier - you'll go too fast!

Mom had me go to ski school when I was little since there was a nearby Illinois hill (yes let's admit we don't have mountains). All I remember is the tow rope, the slope, and practicing for hours on end getting off the chair lift. Mom was so good like that, as she towed me around by her ski poles. Today I thank her for that experience even though it was scary when you are only 2 feet tall!

Anyways can't wait to hit the slopes with The Boy and spend quality time with my Knoxville friends! I'll be sure to snap a few pics when I'm not loosing my balance....

Steady as she goes!

Have a great weekend ya'll!

The Art of Non-Essentials

The Truth. Real Love Doesn't.

Facebook, Privacy, Not!

Check out this article http://mashable.com/2009/02/16/facebook-tos-privacy/


This article basically tells us that facebook is in all of our stuff, and can copy, redistribute and do whatever they'd like with any and all of the information we've put on there.

Maybe that will make some people think twice...

A Disclaimer on Valentine's Day and Puppy Treats

While I made a little valentine this year for my friends & family - I want to note that I don't think we necessarily need just one day of the year to show our friends, family, and loved ones how much we care. It's good to stop and share special moments all year long. Definitely. Well here's the little Valentine I made at home with my little puppy, Gibson, as inspiration.

These lil pups made their way in little envelopes to Michigan, Chicagoland, Boston, Tennessee, and Florida.



Cheers!

Because we all Need a Lil Cream Cheese

who is this for you!?

My Desire.

i want to be your friend forever and ever without break or decay
when the hills are all flat and the rivers are all dry,
when it lightens and thunders in the winter,
when it rains and snows in the summer,
heaven and earth mingle...
not then will i part from you.

- Chinese, Tang Dynasty.

in my opinion, there is nothing more romantic than an expression of love in handwritten form.

A Picture Update.

Nie nie and the heart.

As many of you know, Stephanie Nielson, from Nienie Dialogues is back and posting. Her journey it healing has begun. It is a slow process. But through it all you see this unconditional, unshakeable love and faith.

Here is a snipbit from her latest post. I hope to share in a love like this, with all my heart, one day it will come to me.

A work in progress.

I am off to surgery folks.
I will be enjoying that delish hospital food, maybe (if i get super lucky) a catheter and a lot of shots. I will miss Miss B. coming over to rub my back.
Mr. Nielson will stay at home and make sure Jimmy wont poop in the house. The kids are coming to live "full-time" with us at the end of the week. In celebration, Mr. Nielson bought the us a new beautiful up-right piano. None of us can play it. He can whip out a REM song and I know "Heart and soul" (but who doesn't). Looking for a teacher to teach us all. It was delivered to the house while I was plopped on a couch feeling extra sorry for myself.
The beautiful mahogany wood looked so memorable in the sun's rays.
And for a minute, I was happy.
I thought about good times to be had in the distance of my life.

(this next part is the one that tugs at all my heart strings tenfold)

Mr. Nielson tucked me safe and sound into bed that night. Mindy was singing softly in the background. My eyes welled up as he pulled me close to him. "This is only temporary...you are a beautiful work in progress" Then he lay next to me and when he thought I was asleep, he patted me and said

"girl, I love you"

Then he got up to put away the dinner dishes.

Reality

all courtesy of ThisIndexed.com

Women, Racks, and Deer

Fully Invested.

I'm determined to be in a Gooooooood Mood

I want to blame it on Aunt Flo and the likes. No fruit baskets, but I did eat chicken wings. I have a new haircut, that was cheap and turned out good - hello that's happiness gals, right!?

But a little moodiness crept into my morning already, but I put on my kick ass boots cause I'm determined to stomp it right out of the atmosphere!

Good buy bad blues hello rocking kick boot chic.

PS Chocolate will still be accepted as a gift.

:)

My Daily Plate

So I've started to do a lot of thinking about being healthy, exercise, and eating habits. I know from past experience that I do feel my best when I eat healthy and work in exercise 3 x a week. Starting at the new year I did the exercise bit and so far have done fairly well with sticking to it, except for 1 week.

Now I'm taking it a bit deeper and using the Daily Plate to help me achieve this. The Daily Plate is like an online food journal that can track my daily caloric intake, and help me determine how many calories I need to consume daily to still lose .5 lbs a week, 1 lb. a week, etc.

I've been inputting my foods for the past two days now and find that its really great and aids me in being more mindful of what it is this little temple (ha) of a body is consuming. It also lets me see how I'm meeting my needs for protein, sodium, vitamins, etc. These are good things to know.

And the best part of it....it's FREE. Most of the foods I eat are already in there, anything from 1 cup of Kelloggs cereal to my Campbells Healthy Select Soup I eat for lunch.

So give it a try, and say bon voyage to bad eating habits!

PS Ive realized I can still have my 1 piece of Godiva chocolate at the end of the day! it all comes down to choices! Thanks to The Boy for such a lovely present....to enjoy daily!

Simple, Goregous, Romantic

This is just gorgeous. I love the simplicity, but the elegance. This is me. Maybe not the pink, but soft colors none the less. Click to enlarge. put together by Lyndsey Hamilton and photographed by Terry Michael.

i think i really heart this coat rack...

aw its soooo unique! the coat rack...

The Courage Moments

This came from a blog I read recently and felt this might be something we all need to be reminded of now and then...it's about courage & leaping.

What I realized is that there is not just one big moment of courage in our lives. There are many. These moments come to us in different ways. At times we are forced into a leap (unexpected pregnancy, when parents or partners pass away, when we loose our job). At times we are called into a leap (when someone invites us for a trip of a lifetime, when our partner wants to move to a new city, when we are offered a chance, when we take the "money maker" role to support our family). Then there are also the daily tiny leaps we take for the sake of adventure (when we try new types of food, music, when we go out on a date, when we talk to a stranger, when we transition from blogger friends to real life friends). No matter how small, silly or hard, tiny, dramatic or forgotten... All leaps are important because little by little, we live through change, we figure out how to cope, we move forward, we learn who we are, and we build our confidence for the bigger leaps, the ones we seek for ourselves.

Snow Day Outfit

Snow Day Outfit 1 - by etmason on Polyvore.com

I Also Heart...My Sister!

My little sister is getting married this upcoming July. I heart her:) She's going to be such a lovely bride!

What I Heart

I heart this lighting. There's something about tiny white twinkling lights...
I heart this garland, which is actually made on paper of antique novels.

I heart JCrew's new spring collection, dusty pinks and light oranges.