Wednesday, November 30, 2011
The Calendar of Facial Hair
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Puppies!
Monday, November 28, 2011
Whirlwind Trip to SoCal
Hollywood wasn't quite what we expected. It certainly isn't as glamorous as it looks on TV or in movies, but it was still fun! We decided to visit the wax museum and since it was a combo ticket, we went to the Guinness World Record Museum as well.
Captain Jack Sparrow greeted us as we entered and I so I snapped this photo for my sister and co-blogger, Ashton. She loves Johnny Depp!
I love Gwyneth Paltrow, so I just had to take a photo with her. It was amazing how life-like the wax statues were...not that I recognized that many of them, but I suppose that comes of growing up without watching many movies.
Ah, the entrance to Disneyland.
The decorations inside were amazing. This is as simple as they got.
Since I went on It's a Small World, Kelsey humored me and we rode the carousel together (I don't know what it is about them, but I ride carousels whenever I get the chance).
Here we are together in the lower left hand corner of the mirror.
The mast of the pirate ship we set sail on.
Mike Fink, King of the River's cabin. Davy Crockett was visiting! I had to snap this photo because I have way too many good memories of singing "Daaavy, Daaavy Crocket, King of the Wild Frontier" with my siblings.
Ah, the haunted mansion. It was awesome!
Before dinner, we watched the parade. The chimney sweeps were our favorite part. These guys were super talented!
We ended the evening with a trip on the Disneyland railroad followed by the holiday magic fireworks show.
Overall, we had a great time in SoCal, though we were both very glad to return to the land of tree-canopied cities and rarely-glimpsed skyscrapers.
Photo of the Week
A friend and I drove down to Southern California for Veteran's Day weekend. On the way down, we saw a lot of cotton bales along I-5, something neither of us had ever seen before, but knew instantly when we did. When we got to our hotel room, I wrote a Haiku about it:
Driving to SoCal
Cotton bales fresh harvested
Lining the highway
Check back this afternoon for more pictures from our trip!
Friday, November 25, 2011
Weekly Round-Up #33
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Childhood Memories
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Gift Guide: For Your Awesome Parents
I think this is so pretty! And not too red-green Christmasy, but gives a subtle nod to the holiday instead :)
Monday, November 21, 2011
Photo of the Week
Friday, November 18, 2011
Weekly Round-Up #34
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Thoughts for a Stressful Thursday
My Cute Piano Student
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
The Day I Became a Capitalist. Or, A Six-Year-Old Comes Face to Face With Socialism's Flaws
Friday, November 11, 2011
Weekly Round-Up #32
Jon Acuff wrote about the effect of travel on family time. While the post is geared towards adults with families, we think it's applicable for everyone, regardless of their stage in life.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Musings on My Desire to Have Children
Although I've always said that I would be happy with "however many kids God gives me," on Monday morning I realized that wasn't really true. While I was thinking about this conversation, it was as though God asked me, "Adri, would you be happy with 2 children?" Yes, I thought, I would be...well, maybe not happy, but I could be content. But then God asked me, "What if I don't give you any children, Adri, would be you content then? You say you'll be happy with whatever I give you...what if I give you no children at all?"
And I realized that I could not even be content with not having any children...even now, typing this, I am nearly brought to tears - not the good kind, but the ones of bitterness and anger - at the thought of never having children. It's something I've always wanted, but if that's not God's will for my life, what am I supposed to do? What will that mean for my relationship with him?
Obviously, this is something I still need to work out. This is an area of my life that I only just realized is not surrendered to God...and I'm not sure that I want to surrender it. This is a time of testing for me. Will I surrender my deepest desires to him? Or will I hold onto them and let them come between us? The easy answer is that I will surrender it, but that's not necessarily an honest answer. And I think it's important to be honest, with God, with myself, and with others.
A Couple's Thanksgiving
This year we will be spending Thanksgiving day with my family at the beach. I am very excited about this because I love, love LOVE the ocean and being on the beach. Plus I always find holidays that center around cooking a huge meal for 10 hours to end up being rushed and chaotic. But a day with family at the beach? The exact opposite. I think this really is a genius plan - skip the traditional feast to instead focus on simply being. As a family.
We also won't be doing a traditional Thanksgiving meal with the hub's family...just spending a day relaxing and playing with the niece and nephews.
But part of me is really missing the idea of eating all the delicious food (despite my protestations above). So I thought, why not make a mini-feast for the hubs and I to enjoy?
And that is just what I am going to do! However, neither of us likes turkey (thankfully! because there is no way I am tackling that kind of a project - I lose interest in things too easily to try to cook a turkey). So we will be forgoing the bird in exchange for some steaks. Oh yeah. I think we will be winning in the end :)
Here is my menu:
Side 1: mashed potatoes
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Backpacking in Hetch Hetchy: Or, Why Fallen Logs Are Nice For Sitting, Not Sleeping
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Gift Ideas: For Your 14 Year Old Comedic, Goofy, Cyclist Brother
Monday, November 7, 2011
Friday, November 4, 2011
Weekly Round-Up #33
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Pinterest Challenge: Painted Ornaments
This pic is blurry, but if you kind of squint you can see the cool marbling affect that happens inside the ornament as you swirl. Sadly this isn't visible once the bulb is finished.
Almost finished!
I wasn't sure if I needed to let them dry, so I let them rest for an hour, nervously checking back every few minutes to make sure the paint was sticking. They were fine :)
This one was my first - yellow, gray and white.
The other side has more marbling and less streaking.
My second ornament used all four colors - gray, yellow, white and purple. This ornament is my favorite because it has two distinct pattern variations depending on how you look at it. The subtle purple side:
The bolder side:
Finally I tried a purple, white and gray variation. I was impatient on this one so I'm only going to show you the good side:
And there they are! This was such an easy and rewarding project. It only took about 10-15 minutes per ornament (I'm sure it would be faster once I felt more confident too) and the effect is so gorgeous. It really does remind me of the type of modern art pieces I love.
I am off to buy some more paint colors so I can try more variations - and maybe if I'm patient I can get mine to look more like Alyssa's :)
Be sure to check out the hosts of this Pinterest Challenge:
Katie of Bower Power
Sherry of YoungHouseLove
Ana from Ana-White.com
Erin from House of Earnest