every little thing

Anniversary

Eight years ago today, Mike had the day off of work, and for no particular reason we went to city hall and got married.  No rings, no dress, no witnesses.  Just us.  It doesn't make for a very interesting story, but it is our story, and we're sticking to it, (for eight years so far, anyway.)   After an unusual bout of superstition, I'm actually quite glad to be done with year-seven and to have our feet firmly planted into year number eight.  I always joked about having a huge party-ceremony thing when we hit the big "10", and now that that is looming closer, I think I've changed my mind....I decided it will be much more fun (and selfish) to go on a fancy, Second Honeymoon trip just the two of us!  I've got 2 years to plan and save up, and I'd love to hear some suggestions on where you think we should go.  I do have a few restrictions:

*We're not into cruises
*Fancy, but not too fancy (we're not the Rockefeller's or anything)
*I don't like cold climates
*Not Europe.  When we do go eventually, I want that to be a family-thing.
*Nothing too strenuous or action-packed, I'm into lazy vacations.

If any of you have recommendations, please leave me a note in the comments, I'd be so grateful!  Neither Mike or are are particularly well traveled, so it'd be pretty easy to impress us. 

Thanks guys!  And I hope you're all having a wonderful Holiday Weekend!

Lost In Austen

I spotted this mini series on Netflix a few weeks ago.  It was in my "if you like this, then you should try this" suggestion box.  I'd never heard of it, but just going by the synopsis I thought it sounded really dumb.  So dumb, in fact, that It might be kind of funny.  So I threw it in the old queue just for kicks.  But now that I've seen it, I have to admit that I truly liked it - kind of a lot.  So much, in fact, that I'm going to heartily recommend it to any of you Pride and Prejudice fans (and I know you are out there.)  Yes, the whole Jane Austen re-do trend has gotten painfully old, I've read several of the books and most of them are lame.  I don't think this show should have been very good either, but somehow they made it work.  Half of it is the stellar casting job, that my sister and I both agreed was just spot-on.  The story line gets a bit silly at times, but never goes too far off the deep end, so the suspension of disbelief came easily.  There were even a few plot twist that took me by surprise and actually made a lot of sense, like they could have come from Ms. Austen herself.  (and the main characters name is "Amanda" so that was kinda funny, for me.) 

You can find clips and previews around the Internet, but I'm not going to add any here.  I think that going into it blindly with no expectations was the right move...I suggest it for you, too.  But be warned: since it's a mini series, it's about 4 hours long.  Don't put it in at 11:30 at night like I did.  You'll be up the whole, bloody night.

a home for the fleas

I told the stylist I wanted to look like Scout, from To Kill a Mockingbird, and, personally speaking, I think she hit the nail on the head.  My hair had gotten really, really long and I was just ready for a change.  After a few weeks of systematically shearing off an inch here and there myself, I finally sought professional help before things got out of hand.  I'm glad I did, too, because I really like the do so far.  It's cute, simple, and shows signs of having actual style (a thing my hair does not usually exhibit.)  I used the flat iron for the picture here, but my hair has a natural wave to it, so it usually looks a bit messier and scrunched up.  Still, much better than a ratty-ended pouf of straw it used to be.  Unfortunately, my hair grows at the speed of light, and I'm not one to keep regular appointments of any kind, so the style will surely have grown out by the end of summer.  At least Mike can stop calling me "Cher" and move on to new nicknames, like Pat Benatar, perhaps.  *Sigh*  Better get to work on my paper mache ham costume....       

PS:  Any comments to the effect of, "Why did you cut your hair?  It looked so good long, etc"  will be be immediately deleted.  I will then roll my eyes at the author, and say they sound just like my mother. 

Friday's Hero

Have you seen this show?  Hilarious.  Canadian comedy at it's best.  I've been watching it a lot lately, and luckily there are 6 seasons so there's plenty to see.  I'd reccomend it to anyone who is familiar with or a fan of Canadian comedy, hockey references, and very dry humor.  You can watch quite a bit over on youtube, but I'd reccomend netflixing a season or two.  You won't regret it.

OK guys, have a nice weekend, eh?

Special Zen-Moment for my Momma

(Sorry, I don't know why the video is sideways.)

Your Daily Moment of Zen

...starts just after the 1 minute mark.  I dare you not to smile.

Via Johnaray

Pssst..

Another soapy giveaway going on at the Bake it Pretty Blog...

LEAF, Interrupted

LEAF was just about the coolest thing I've ever, and wouldn't you know it - I missed half of it because of my stupid kidney.  After the summer stone of 2008, I tend to get really nervous whenever I have a mysterious pain in my side.  I don't fancy myself a paranoid person, but thought of reliving the worst pain of my life makes me, oh, just a bit panicky.  If you've never had a kidney stone, good.  I hope you never do.  I think David Sedaris described it best when he said, "...imagine someone stabbing you in the side, and then jiggling the knife handle for hours without stopping."  So, anyway, the pain never got anywhere near that bad this time, but for my own sanity I left the festival, (the thought of passing a stone while camping and, God forbid, in a port-o-potty, was more than I could wrap my head around.)  The good news: there was no stone after all, just a small kidney infection that I, thankfully, caught early.  No biggie, I'll be right as rain in a few days.  I'm still pretty bummed about missing the rest of the festival.  I was home with a heating pad on my back while Mike was whizzing down a zip-line, but oh no....I'm not bitter.   Honestly, I'm just so glad it wasn't another stone that nothing else even matters.  You can see the rest of my photos from the festival on my flickr page, if you're interested.  It was a big, muddy, crazy, hippie, party and I can't wait to go again next time. 

Our Side of the Mountain

 

 

I've taken to walking up and down our street these last few weeks.  Mainly because it's so dreamy, but also because the steep inclines make even an average pace feel like a major workout. (A few more months of this and I will be sporting buns-o-steel.)  There's a little, brown rabbit that follows me most times, nibbling on weeds and letting me get surprisingly close to him.  Every single time we leave the house, Mike or myself (or both) will stare, slack-jawed, at the mossy mountains and exclaim, "Wow.  Do we really live here?"

Slave Labor

Max is trying his hardest to look anguished and in pain, but I'm not buying it.

Happy Friday, from the Bake It Pretty shipping department!