A check off the to-do list

Every year, for the last couple years, I think about how I'd like to make a scrapbook. It goes on the old to-do list, where it sits woefully unattended until about July. I have successfully made scrapbooks in the past, and I love the process of making them - the creativity, the artsiness, that fun that comes from knowing how much I'll enjoy looking at them in the future. But my living room. My living room does not like scrapbook making. My carpet does not like it either - the sudden infestation of thousands of bits of teeny tiny paper scraps.

So, this year, I decided that the next-best thing would have to do: I shall pay someone else to do my scrapbook making! And I enlisted someone called "Shutterfly" and I have to say, they did a wonderful job. Pre-made template, drag and drop, add captions, and cough up 35 bucks - DONE!

The moral of the story?

Outsourcing: not always a bad thing.

A Few Things

Yesterday, I got my first ever paycheck for writing. It was for thirty one dollars and fifty three cents and I want to frame it. It's from Got2BeGreen.com, who I've written articles for throughout the past year. So yesterday was a banner day in the casa G-ski. I was excited!

*A note about the pictures*: I used to use stock photos for fun images on this blog, but from last week onward all the pics you see on here will be mine or The Mister's, unless I say otherwise. It makes me uncomfortable to have pictures of myself on my blog, because the act of even having a blog is seen by some as an uncontrollable act of narcissism, and to splash pictures on here of myself...well, you see where I'm going. But The Mister takes pictures just as often as I do, and he would like to have his pictures represented on the blog as well, and, well...he takes a lot of pictures of moi. So I'll brush past my own reticence, for his sake.

This really happened.

True story:(don't you love it when a post starts off like that? You just know something outrageous is coming)

Yesterday, I was at a conference about immigration reform. It was a wonderful conference, about a very worthy issue. It was meaningful and informative. I loved it.

But something happened that will permanently color my memory of the day.

I was sitting at a table with some rather prominent leaders in our community.

During the talk (a great talk!), one my neighbors reached down to his note-taking piece of paper

ripped off a litte piece of the corner

wadded it up

and ate it.

At first I was bemused. Spitball? In this crowd?

But I never saw the reappearance of the piece of paper, not as a slobbery projectile or in any other form.

Mystery?

Indeed.

He even looks good with glasses

I love my camera.
I love this photography class.
And I am hopelessly head over heels with this man:

Really, I don't see that I have any other choice.

In Sarahtopia

...everybody would have cheerful office supplies

Story Updates

Learning Spanish: check.
Several meetups attended.
Lots of conversation practice.
Almost one whole movie watched in Spanish.
(Each scene about 10 times each).
Box of 1000 flashcards about a quarter of the way learned.
Seeing flashcards in my dreams.

Photography class: Love.
Learning a ton.
Taking lots of pictures.
Figuring out lighting.
(Tougher than it seems).

Couch to 5K: stalled.
Hurt my foot.
Slightly swollen and bluish-purple at the joint.
A pretty color for flowers.
But not for feet.
Doctor on Friday.
Crossing my fingers.

Check me out!

My friend Randy kindly asked me to write an article for his blog, Random Thoughts of a Photographer.

And I said, yes! (obviously).

So if you are so inclined, you may read the article here.

Pre-Parenthood Reflections

"What is your greatest hope for our children?", The Mister asked me one day.

I thought about it for a moment.

"I would like them to be kind."

Kindness is a very, very underrated quality.

"What is yours?", I asked him back.

"I would like them to know that they have the freedom to be individuals. That their own opinion is the most important thing they have, and not to let anyone try to co-opt that from them".

I mused over that for a moment.

"That's going to be hell when they're teenagers" I observed.

"I know", he affirmed, "but it will be worth it".

*picture by La Rebel and I(!)*

January Thank You

*I liked writing a thank you letter last month so much I've decided to continue the tradition monthly in 2010*

Shortly after I got married, my Aunt Jill came out to Arizona to visit her sister, also known as my mother.

This aunt of mine is no pansy. She raised handfuls of children (less than 10, more than 5, and only one girl in the bunch) and makes her family meals from scratch pretty much every night. And she is a scrapbook queen.

We got to talking about newly married life and household management and cooking and all the things that a newly married couple have fun figuring out on their own. She went home, and a few weeks later I got a little unexpected gift in my mailbox.

Recipes.

Lots and lots of recipes - almost two dozen - handwritten out just for me on beautiful recipe cards.

They immediately formed the backbone of my recipe box, because they were good, staple recipes - my absolute, hands-down favorite being "How to Cook a Whole Chicken". It contains the directions "don't be afraid, Sarah! Just reach right in".

How can you not love that?

So thank you, Aunt Jill. Your investment of time in taking what must have been hours to select, write, and mail the perfect recipes just for me was spent on a grateful heart. Those recipe cards will get passed on to my own children one day, and together you and I will ensure that no one from our line will not know how to whip up perfect homemade ranch dressing.

Love,

your niece,

Sarah

Why I live in Arizona

I find things like this in my yard in January.

What I'm Thinking About Today

“The Loving Presence does not burden us equally with all things, but considerately puts upon each of us just a few central tasks, as emphatic responsibilities. For each of these special undertakings is our share in the joyous burden of love. Thus the state of having a concern has a foreground and a background. In the foreground is the special task, uniquely illuminated, toward which we feel a special yearning and care. In the background is a second level, or layer, or universal concern for all the multitude of good things that need doing. Toward them all we feel kindly, but we are dismissed from active service in most of them.”

A Testament of Devotion by Thomas R. Kelly

Blogovulution

This blog started out 200 posts ago, in the spring of 2008, as a way to document our trip to Africa.

Then, when we returned from Africa, it had a little crisis. What to do? No scintillating African adventures to blog about. So it sat dormant, wheezing along at a pace of approximately one lame post per month.

But here's the thing:

Having a blog for that space of time made me realize that I liked blogging.

This is my second blog ever - my first attempt was during my study abroad semester in Prague in the fall of 2006 (hyperlinked in case you want some retro fun and have a lot of free time on your hands). And I actually had really liked it then, too.

And I sort of though that, you know, the two travel blogs created a great scrapbook. I printed them out and put them in the back of the respective photo albums as a little addendum.

And then I realized that: 1.) I liked blogging. It's fun to have a little forum to write whatever I feel like writing. 2.) It's sort of like my little scrapbook. It's a fun record of things I might not otherwise write down. 3.) Why not? All the cool kids are doing it.

And so, I resurrected my blog. Redesigned it. Actually starting posting regularly. Not about anything in particular. A Seinfeld-ish "Blog About Nothing". Collections of thoughts, in as many different moods as colors in a rainbow.

And something happened - you all humored me by sticking around.

I'm not really sure where this blog is going next - and I like it that way. It's sort of meandering along like a river in late summer. No direction, doesn't have to be anywhere in a hurry, is nice and warm and welcomes all swimmers.

But thanks for hanging around and reading my silly thoughts.

Debut!

On Saturday, La Rebel, The Mister and I did our very first photo shoot. My sister was our willing subject. We had a total blast, although we still have a lot to learn...a LOT to learn.

View the rest as a slideshow here.

Men are from Wal-Mart, Women are from Whole Foods

Man salad:

Lady salad:

Another story arc

Yesterday I was telling you about one of the stories I'm choosing to be a part of this year: The Story In Which The Girl Who Hates Running Stops Being Lazy And Runs a 5k Because She Told Her Friends She Would.

Today, another story I'm living this year.

Remember last summer The Mister and I became great friends with a group of Jordanians? Well we still chat with them often, and when the opportunity came up to travel to the Middle East with a group of friends, we said, duh, yes. So this spring we will be heading off for two weeks to Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Amman, and other places in between.

And we get to see our friends!

The opportunity to be with them in their country after they came to ours is so incredibly exciting.

So, we're writing a story in which Super White Christian-ish American Homegirl and Homeboy Become Busom Friends With Muslim Arabs From The Middle East. They came to visit us, now we get to go visit them. And here's the part of the story that gets dicey: when our friends were here, they taught us a lot of words in Arabic (which I never knew was such a pretty language, but it is indeed). Their English of course was impeccable. So when one of them dared me to learn the Arabic alphabet by the time we came to visit (which at the time seemed a hazy, distant era), I instantly took the challenge.

And, um, the result is that now I need to learn the Arabic alphabet in about 9 or 10 weeks. Because I promised. I knew I could do it, because *little known fact alert!* I actually can read the Russian alphabet. It wasn't too hard once I got the hang of it.

Anyway.

Wish me luck.

That is all.

Setting Goals

Picture credit: The Mister.

Interesting use of light, eh?

I like it.

I also like how my right eye makes me look slightly alien-ish.

Speaking of me being alienish and odd:

I have decided to run a 5k this year

Or should I say,

a 5k has decided that I should run it.

February 27th, to be exact.

How is someone that hates running deciding to run a 5k, you ask?

Here is the story:

My friend Tara did this program a few months ago called "Couch to 5k". Starts out slow, builds up endurance. I heard her story and looked at her pictures of being tired and pink-cheeked after the run, and she looked so proud.

I thought, I want to look like that! And I want to enjoy this young, healthy body when I can. You never know when either of those things will slip out from under you.

So, I had sort of wanted to do it, but I knew I wouldn't stick with it unless I had a specific end-date, and friends to come along. So the other day I emailed Tara and another friend Heather (who had decided to start the program the week before I did), and told them about this February 27th gig, and asked them if they wanted to all do the same race. Get a little peer pressure factor on this thing. They said Yes!, and Yes! and now I am in shoulder deep.

Nervous? Yes.

Our Christmas Card, Posted Here a Little Late

It's a fresh new year!

Hello blogland, I am back!

I missed you, and I hope you had very merry holidays. I like saying that holiday greeting, because I believe it is the only regular usage of the word "merry" in American English, and I think "merry" is such a good, jolly word.

Here is what I did over my Christmas break:







Ate candy and sweets

















Completed our traditional holiday puzzle











Drank mimosas and slept in late
















Played ping pong with my mom's new set







Went to Mexico to visit friends Shaun and Maria and their house full of crazy fun teenagers












My Mexican friend Maria taught me to make authentic tacos (hint: fry them, baby. Don't be afraid)











Did I mention that we were in wine country? With green, rolling hills? And sunshine? And vineyards? And tacos?










When we got home, we took advantage of the beautiful weather by playing outside a lot.

P.S. That dimple....that dimple absolutely slays me.

















Self portrait number one: too much light.













Self portrait number two: rotate 180 degrees. Too much shade.

Clearly, we have a lot to learn.









Oh, and whenever possible over your Christmas break, I recommend going to San Diego and doing this for a couple hours.


Just a hint.