Feeling thankful

I feel very blessed right now and realized that I usually think about the things in my life that bother me. It’s time to focus on what I’m thankful for. So here are the things I feel thankful for today:

• An amazing husband. I can’t take him for granted because I know what it’s like to wonder if the right guy will ever come along. (He did.)
• A loving son. Rhys is so happy and loving. He makes everything in my life better.
• Our own washer and dryer. Seriously. Using the laundry facilities in the dorms at UT Austin has helped me realize how spoiled we are.
• Family! Some of my family is going to be driving for many hours tomorrow to come and see us. We are so excited.
• The fact that God is taking care of us financially. We had some setbacks recently, but I know we’re in good hands.
• Living for a month in downtown Austin. I love taking Rhys for walks on campus and being so close to everything.

And that’s it for today. I’m going to try and pay more attention to the many wonderful things in my life and will report back. 🙂

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Self portraits

Do you remember the days when I used to write several blog posts a week, and I would write about anything that came into my head, whether the thoughts were deep, dark, crazy and too personal? No, you probably don’t. That was several years and blogs ago.

I’m beginning to itch for beauty in my life. I need poetry. I need passion. I need to share my thoughts. Don’t know how I’ll find the time, but maybe I’ll make time somehow.

The above picture is me, but it’s not a self portrait. Maybe I’ll post one soon.

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Baby stuff

So it turns out I don’t have gestational diabetes, which I am thankful for. After hearing everything my sister has to go through because of it, I’m very thankful. I still don’t have a side shot of my pregnant belly, but it’s definitely growing. (I’ll save this for another post, but I’m just wondering: why do people feel that it’s ok to tell a pregnant woman how big or small she is? It’s not ok, so don’t do it!)

In other news, John and I recently got the best deal at a yard sale. I’m so impressed with our haul that I had to share a picture. We went to a yard sale right at the end, and the lady had TONS of baby boy clothing. And they were all name brand items (not that I care about name brands, but they were quality items). Anyway, she gave us a big garbage bag and said it was $10 to stuff the bag full. So we did. Here’s what we came home with:

We already had clothing for under 12 months, so we focused on the 12 month to 2 year clothing. We ended up with:

• 2 jackets
• 12 pairs of socks
• 8 hats
• 11 pairs of pants and jeans
• 6 pairs of shorts
• 22 shirts and onesies

All that for $10. I was proud of our find. Our boy is practically set for clothing until past age 2, and we have so far only spent $10. I feel very blessed.

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SPC

Just posting my next self portrait challenge pic. I had decided that I was going to give up SPC, because I was a little put off by the nudity on their website (the theme is the body, after all), but I decided I just won’t look. I still want to participate. The body theme will be gone soon enough. Besides which, the nudity isn’t alluring or anything. Just the opposite. Which makes it ‘art’ as opposed to something else. However, I don’t really care to see you naked, whether it’s art or not! But the main thing is, I still want to take pictures. So I will

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self portrait challenge — eye of my storm

Here’s my self portrait for the week, my first one ever. This one is called ‘eye of my storm’. My weekend was rough; this week has been hard, but between all that, on Monday evening, I experienced a reprieve. John and I sat on our balcony, holding hands and talking about the future as we stared out at the view we wouldn’t be seeing for much longer — Camelback mountain where John proposed, the golf course, the lone palm tree off in the distance. Things have been rough both before and since, but for that one moment all was right.

To see more self portrait entries, go here.

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he’s back

My husband was in Texas this weekend visiting a school there. Not in the city featured on his shirt. I’m just glad he’s back.

But now we must talk of packing and cleaning and job hunting and finality. I’m not ready yet.

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the reason is you

Two years ago today, John and I were married in the Las Vegas temple. It’s hard to believe we’ve been married two years already, yet I feel as though I’ve been with him forever. Anyone who knows us can see that we’re MFEO; there’s no one who understands me or loves me better than John does, we both have our ‘quirky’ sense of humor, and we can entertain each other for hours on a road trip. I’m more comfortable with him than with anyone else I’ve ever known.

I waited a long time to find the right man to marry, and there were times when I lost hope that he was actually out there. But John came along and made the wait so worth it.

I love you sweetie. You’re truly my soul mate.
xoxoxoxox

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love

So remember that one time when I said I would share a picture of the valentine card I made for John? Well, I’m finally doing that. Just remember that it’s pretty much my first attempt at paint ever. But I like it anyway, flaws and all:

And you know what John got me? This:

If you know me, you know this was the perfect gift. I’m romantic, and I love poetry. So the combination was perfect. Now I just need to light a fire in our unused fireplace and have John read love poems to me. (Thus far he hasn’t.) But anyway, that was our Valentine’s day.

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picture interlude

John and I on our family’s annual Christmas eve hike.

John and I at Lake Mead during Christmas after feeding the fish and ducks.

Us on our hike in the White Tank Mountains last weekend.

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thinking about tomorrow

The wheels in my mind are turning. I’ve talked before about life goals and how I don’t really have any. I encourage other people to pursue their dreams, but I don’t look inside myself long enough to know what my dreams even are. So I’m thinking.

And meanwhile, here are pictures from our trip to Delaware. I think I could enjoy autumn if I lived there. In Arizona, all autumn means is that there is darkness after 6pm. That’s depressing to me, and hence why I don’t like fall. However, Delaware convinced me that fall could be pretty nice. Most of the pictures are on University of Delaware’s campus.

Pretty, no?

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drag races visualized

So I finally uploaded some pictures. I’m really bad at doing that. But since I have pictures, I thought you might enjoy seeing what the drag races really look like…

Do you see all the nasty smoke in the air?

You can hardly see it in the picture, but even the pit crew in the van gets cheers from the crowd. Famous. They’re all celebrities.

Aren’t we so cute with our big headphones?

That’s it for now, but more pictures coming soon…

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chinese proverbs and calligraphy

A while back I said I would post projects from my Chinese calligraphy class. And today is the day that I do.

I took the class this past spring, but I’ve been wanting to take it since 2001. It was a dream, and I did it. The reason I wanted to take it? I was in China, November of 2000. My American friends and I were walking through a park in Beijing. The weather was cool, and it was overcast as usual.

As we walked along, I saw an older Chinese man. He was holding a paint brush that was nearly as tall as he was, and he was standing straight, painting Chinese characters on the sidewalk. But the brush was made of sponge, and the ‘paint’ was actually water. He would paint a row of beautiful Chinese characters and by the time he got through several rows, the first row had faded away to nothing.

It was spontaneous art, and the beauty of it overwhelmed me. The man didn’t care how fleeting his art was, he was only intent on creating it. Right then I decided I wanted to learn Chinese calligraphy. I didn’t think I’d ever get the chance.

Then I came to ASU in 2001 and saw that they offered Chinese calligraphy courses once a year! The planets never aligned until this year. It was one credit hour; it was fun. Chinese calligraphy is very relaxing, and I think I’m actually good at it!

Here are a couple of projects.

This first one is a rough draft of the final project we had to turn in. I don’t know what the writing says; it’s from an inscription written on somebody’s tomb. This is the project my teacher was so impressed with she offered to frame it while she was in China! I was speechless…

And this last pic is actually a project I did after the class was over. I made it for my husband when he graduated from ASU with his MPA. I can’t remember the exact translation, but here’s the gist: “When you have climbed the highest peak, the mountains below you seem small.”

Anyway, I love Chinese calligraphy. It’s an art form that I would like to keep up because it’s beautiful, it’s relaxing, and it’s a hobby that’s pretty unique (unless you’re in China!).

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