Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
i'm in gryffindor!
i'm finally picking the harry potter series back up :) i'm almost done with book 5, then plan to read 6 & 7 right after that :) nate and i are also behind on the movies, we're getting ready to watch 4!
Saturday, July 28, 2007
bloggity bloggerson!
cassie's here and we're all getting ready to head to the beach :) it's definitely hot enough! i've been posting pictures from all our adventures, most recently from last weekend, we went to mgm studios and epcot with ian, ben & sam. it was a good time :) sam even let me borrow her lens while we were at epcot, so if you're wondering why i took so many pictures of singular items with blurry backgrounds... that's why, i was playing with it :)
for example:
a few weeks ago, nate and got to go on a cruise for work (yes, i know how ridiculous that sounds) :) we were really excited to be able to go on the same one this time! we did quite
a bit of data collection and got some time in to have fun too :) we went looking for the queen's staircase in nassau, but unfortunately we thought we couldn't find it and stopped looking when were just a block away! we also spent time at nate's favorite, castaway cay- the beach we were on was almost entirely empty and extremely shallow! as evident in this picture:
for example:
a few weeks ago, nate and got to go on a cruise for work (yes, i know how ridiculous that sounds) :) we were really excited to be able to go on the same one this time! we did quite
a bit of data collection and got some time in to have fun too :) we went looking for the queen's staircase in nassau, but unfortunately we thought we couldn't find it and stopped looking when were just a block away! we also spent time at nate's favorite, castaway cay- the beach we were on was almost entirely empty and extremely shallow! as evident in this picture:
that's pretty much the last few weeks :) AND... next week we're headed to pennsylvania for the Big O Party- a celebration with nate's family and all of those turning a decade this year. and my mom and my sister will be joining us so i'm really excited to show my mom around connellsville and pittsburgh (cassie's already been a few times). AND we're going to get to spend some quality ghoon time as well, we're looking forward to seeing little o and his ghoon parents :)
Monday, July 9, 2007
Saturday, July 7, 2007
living green!
so nate and i have been trying to make changes in how we live to better conserve the environment. thought i'd share many of the things we found simple to do ;)
- we've been running our dishwasher on air dry and light wash and only when it's full
- we programmed our thermostat to better suit our schedule (i.e. let it get warmer during the day while we're working, and cool it down while we're home) and since we live in FL, 78 degrees has become the 'new cool.' to help out with the less cool air, we're using our ceiling fans more often.
- we're steering away from bottled water (takes a lot of resources to package it), we're lucky enough to have good tap water here.
- we're unplugging power 'vampires' like our TV or other devices that pull power even when they're turned off.
that's a start of our list so far! more to come :)
Saturday, June 23, 2007
i'll take a coffee, black.
so i used to drink my coffee blonde (healthy dose of cream) but recently i've started drinking it black. like the ella fitzgeral song ;) nathan had poured me a travel mug but we were out of cream so instead of using milk (gross!), he left it out altogether so i could add cream when i got work. i drank it all morning before i realized i'd never added cream, so i thought i'd try it black.
seems odd i guess because the way you take your coffee (2 sugars, black, with cream, or even not at all, etc.) is in my opinion part of the basic description of someone. so am i a different person now? i guess no more than if i dyed my hair, right? ;)
seems odd i guess because the way you take your coffee (2 sugars, black, with cream, or even not at all, etc.) is in my opinion part of the basic description of someone. so am i a different person now? i guess no more than if i dyed my hair, right? ;)
Monday, June 4, 2007
hi!
i need to blog about our last couple of trips (nashville and sanibel were both fantastic!) but i'm currently preoccupied with painting :) john (nate's dad) is here helping us paint and nate and john have been busy! they've finished the kitchen and the dining room in a lovely green color of my choosing :) i updated our pictures page with the latest -- next is the living room :) i'm so excited to have paint on the walls! gives me a bug to decorate everything :) now i want to pick art for all our walls -- and i love this print done by rodney white -- but not sure if i'd be overdoing the green in my house!
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
in the details
i want to tell
her about the postcards under
my windshield wiper, the day spent
surrounded by books (my dictionary
too). the way your shirt sleeve
gets damp but i keep my hand
there for the whole movie anyway,
i want to tell her about mixing pancake
batter at 2 a.m. and how you send
me words, save me words, love
my words. she should know that when
you told me you weren’t leaving, you
tightened your hand on mine just slightly
and i thought how no one (not even
me) has ever stayed.
i wrote this in march after nate and i had just started dating :) i discovered it in a notebook in a box in the garage recently so thought i'd post it.
we're headed to nashville this weekend to visit laura and drew-- nate and i are flying out together on friday afternoon, then i'm heading home sunday evening and nate's staying for a few days for the iie conference. i'm really looking forward to spending time with laura and drew, and time in nashville :) the may trip has become a yearly pilgrimage for music and tasty american beer :)
other than that we are deeply in love with our screened in porch and have spent most of our waking moments sitting on it. the weather has been in our favor, nice and cool in the evenings. this past weekend we spent a lot of time in the yard/porch making it a nice little haven. nate's project was pavers for the screen doorstep, which he did a fantastic job with. my project was lots of foliage and flowers for the porch and reviving the flower bed that was almost entirely destroyed by porch construction.
while i was kneeling next to the reed grass in the flower bed i heard a rustling which i've gotten used to given all the lizards we have around, but then saw a 4 foot (at least!) black snake shoot our from behind where i was working. needless to stay i screamed bloody murder and ran in the opposite direction. put a serious damper on my gardening but after prompting nate to poke around with the end of the rake, i was satisfied he didn't leave any friends behind and finished off my planting!
that's it for now :) hope your week is going well!
her about the postcards under
my windshield wiper, the day spent
surrounded by books (my dictionary
too). the way your shirt sleeve
gets damp but i keep my hand
there for the whole movie anyway,
i want to tell her about mixing pancake
batter at 2 a.m. and how you send
me words, save me words, love
my words. she should know that when
you told me you weren’t leaving, you
tightened your hand on mine just slightly
and i thought how no one (not even
me) has ever stayed.
i wrote this in march after nate and i had just started dating :) i discovered it in a notebook in a box in the garage recently so thought i'd post it.
we're headed to nashville this weekend to visit laura and drew-- nate and i are flying out together on friday afternoon, then i'm heading home sunday evening and nate's staying for a few days for the iie conference. i'm really looking forward to spending time with laura and drew, and time in nashville :) the may trip has become a yearly pilgrimage for music and tasty american beer :)
other than that we are deeply in love with our screened in porch and have spent most of our waking moments sitting on it. the weather has been in our favor, nice and cool in the evenings. this past weekend we spent a lot of time in the yard/porch making it a nice little haven. nate's project was pavers for the screen doorstep, which he did a fantastic job with. my project was lots of foliage and flowers for the porch and reviving the flower bed that was almost entirely destroyed by porch construction.
while i was kneeling next to the reed grass in the flower bed i heard a rustling which i've gotten used to given all the lizards we have around, but then saw a 4 foot (at least!) black snake shoot our from behind where i was working. needless to stay i screamed bloody murder and ran in the opposite direction. put a serious damper on my gardening but after prompting nate to poke around with the end of the rake, i was satisfied he didn't leave any friends behind and finished off my planting!
that's it for now :) hope your week is going well!
Thursday, May 10, 2007
summer in florida and the living is easy :)
our new porch is in! we've been out here every night since they built it on tuesday. i've posted updated pics on smugmug of the whole process :) i also posted pics from our trip to PA for music weekend which was a fantastic time- we were all sad to leave.
we did get to share connecting flights with laura and drew which was really cool :) we met up in cincinatti at the starbuck's airport, and one the way home, we flew through atlanta together, so that was a nice way to prolong the trip a bit :)
nate's dad will be coming to visit and help us paint at the beginning of june which will be great - not only for painting help, but also for a definite date to get painting! left unchecked, i think i would paint the entire house various shades of green, but i'm trying to branch out a little :) i think the living room will be blue, the kitchen 'asparagus' green, dining room undecided, guest room a goldish color to match reds and quilts, our bedroom a nice sagey green, the guest bathroom a bright green, the study.. no idea, the extra bedroom... maybe tan? and our bath i haven't figured out yet either!
i want to buy all kinds of palm trees this weekend to turn our porch into a tropical oasis :) we also want to catch a good sale on a chaise or double chaise lounge- we have a couple of chairs and a loveseat, but as we'll be spending a lot of time out here reading we want to be able to lay out :)
i think that's it really... work's been pretty crazy busy lately, but hopefully i can get that under control soon enough. tomorrow our department has an all day team building event scheduled at one of the parks so that should be a nice way to spend a friday :)
have a great weekend!
and congrats to jilian and todd :)
we did get to share connecting flights with laura and drew which was really cool :) we met up in cincinatti at the starbuck's airport, and one the way home, we flew through atlanta together, so that was a nice way to prolong the trip a bit :)
nate's dad will be coming to visit and help us paint at the beginning of june which will be great - not only for painting help, but also for a definite date to get painting! left unchecked, i think i would paint the entire house various shades of green, but i'm trying to branch out a little :) i think the living room will be blue, the kitchen 'asparagus' green, dining room undecided, guest room a goldish color to match reds and quilts, our bedroom a nice sagey green, the guest bathroom a bright green, the study.. no idea, the extra bedroom... maybe tan? and our bath i haven't figured out yet either!
i want to buy all kinds of palm trees this weekend to turn our porch into a tropical oasis :) we also want to catch a good sale on a chaise or double chaise lounge- we have a couple of chairs and a loveseat, but as we'll be spending a lot of time out here reading we want to be able to lay out :)
i think that's it really... work's been pretty crazy busy lately, but hopefully i can get that under control soon enough. tomorrow our department has an all day team building event scheduled at one of the parks so that should be a nice way to spend a friday :)
have a great weekend!
and congrats to jilian and todd :)
Sunday, May 6, 2007
saving the earth...one piece of junk mail at a time!
so i just joined greendimes.com -- it's a service that aims to reduce the junk mail you receive by 90%. takes about 8 weeks to take effect, so i'll keep you posted. it's $35ish dollars per year but they plant a tree for every new membership and if i can save at least a few trees by not receiving ridiculous amounts of credit card apps, that would be awesome ;)
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
hi grandma!
i've been a total slacker on the blogging front... but i'll do better soon ;) i promise :)
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
We Are Virginia Tech
by Nikki Giovanni
“We are Virginia Tech.
We are sad today and we will be sad for quite awhile. WE are not moving on, we are embracing our mourning.
We are Virginia Tech.
We are strong enough to know when to cry and sad enough to know we must laugh again.
We are Virginia Tech.
We do not understand this tragedy. We know we did not deserve it but neither does a child in Africa dying of AIDS, but neither do the invisible children walking the night to avoid being captured by a rogue army. Neither does the baby elephant watching his community be devastated for ivory; neither does the Appalachian infant killed in the middle of the night in his crib in the home his father built with his own hands being run over by a boulder because the land was destabilized. No one deserves a tragedy.
We are Virginia Tech.
The Hokie Nation embraces our own with open heart and hands to those who offer their hearts and minds. We are strong and brave and innocent and unafraid. We are better than we think, not quite what we want to be. We are alive to the imagination and the possibility we will continue to invent the future through our blood and tears, through all this sadness.
We are the Hokies.
We will prevail, we will prevail.
We are Virginia Tech. "
“We are Virginia Tech.
We are sad today and we will be sad for quite awhile. WE are not moving on, we are embracing our mourning.
We are Virginia Tech.
We are strong enough to know when to cry and sad enough to know we must laugh again.
We are Virginia Tech.
We do not understand this tragedy. We know we did not deserve it but neither does a child in Africa dying of AIDS, but neither do the invisible children walking the night to avoid being captured by a rogue army. Neither does the baby elephant watching his community be devastated for ivory; neither does the Appalachian infant killed in the middle of the night in his crib in the home his father built with his own hands being run over by a boulder because the land was destabilized. No one deserves a tragedy.
We are Virginia Tech.
The Hokie Nation embraces our own with open heart and hands to those who offer their hearts and minds. We are strong and brave and innocent and unafraid. We are better than we think, not quite what we want to be. We are alive to the imagination and the possibility we will continue to invent the future through our blood and tears, through all this sadness.
We are the Hokies.
We will prevail, we will prevail.
We are Virginia Tech. "
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Monday, April 16, 2007
cassie's okay...
still getting updates on all the other blacksburgians... what a horrible tragedy.
been getting the most updates from this site: www.collegiatetimes.com - VTs newspaper.
been getting the most updates from this site: www.collegiatetimes.com - VTs newspaper.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
pictures!
are up to date, even including some from our visit with john, linda, and ross :) as usual, i've overdone it when taking pics of events (this time spectromagic and the castle and fireworks).
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
popping in to say hi!
quick hello :) had a wonderful time with cassie and are now enjoying visiting with john, linda, and ross -- they're having a (hopefully) wonderful time pin trading and running around disney :) more later -- have a great week!
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Monday, March 19, 2007
The Evening Star
by Louise Gluck
Tonight, for the first time in many years,
there appeared to me again
a vision of the earth's splendor:
in the evening sky
the first star seemed
to increase in brilliance
as the earth darkened
until at last it could grow no darker.
And the light, which was the light of death,
seemed to restore to earth
its power to console. There were
no other stars. Only the one
whose name I knew
as in my other life I did her
injury: Venus,
star of the early evening,
to you I dedicate
my vision, since on this blank surface
you have cast enough light
to make my thought
visible again.
Tonight, for the first time in many years,
there appeared to me again
a vision of the earth's splendor:
in the evening sky
the first star seemed
to increase in brilliance
as the earth darkened
until at last it could grow no darker.
And the light, which was the light of death,
seemed to restore to earth
its power to console. There were
no other stars. Only the one
whose name I knew
as in my other life I did her
injury: Venus,
star of the early evening,
to you I dedicate
my vision, since on this blank surface
you have cast enough light
to make my thought
visible again.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
ghoons (and the baby) in ghoonlando!
we had a wonderful weekend visiting with dave and maureen and their adorable son owen ;) we spent time doing all things we hoped to do, visiting, cooing over the baby, seeing a bit of the parks, and just in general catching up :) and nate and i also got a parenthood preview ;) we were sad to see them go-- nate especially catches a case of homesickness when pennsylvanians come around, but we'll see them soon up north ;)
speaking of which, we have two trips planned, one to pennsylvania for music weekend (april) and the other to nashville to visit drew and laura (may) - i am really looking forward to both!
and visitors to florida continue with cassie arriving on friday (epcot, shopping, wine bars, oh my!) and linda, john jr., and ross arriving just after cassie leaves on the following friday :) we expect to be entertaining ross with a lot of disney and wii :) should be a great time!
also, the screen porch will become a reality hopefully mid-april, the permits are in process as we speak!
that's all for now i suppose :) don't want to jinx it, but nate and i have been pretty good lately about biking/walking in the evenings, especially with the recent DST shift (yes arizona, the rest of the country experienced a time change recently).
k, i'm off to play the sims for a bit ;)
speaking of which, we have two trips planned, one to pennsylvania for music weekend (april) and the other to nashville to visit drew and laura (may) - i am really looking forward to both!
and visitors to florida continue with cassie arriving on friday (epcot, shopping, wine bars, oh my!) and linda, john jr., and ross arriving just after cassie leaves on the following friday :) we expect to be entertaining ross with a lot of disney and wii :) should be a great time!
also, the screen porch will become a reality hopefully mid-april, the permits are in process as we speak!
that's all for now i suppose :) don't want to jinx it, but nate and i have been pretty good lately about biking/walking in the evenings, especially with the recent DST shift (yes arizona, the rest of the country experienced a time change recently).
k, i'm off to play the sims for a bit ;)
my work anniversary
was march 6th :) i can't believe it's been an entire year! the day snuck up on me actually, and when all my co-workers piled into my office to congratulate me and present me with my one year service pin -- i was completely surprised!
annivesaries and milestones are a great time for reflection and since i started working here i've thought a lot about what's different in this role verus my previous role. there are many many differences on the surface, but what i have really enjoyed are the differences in how i feel about my job. i enjoy working for a company that makes decisions that i agree with, decisions i would make for myself. maybe i have a one year rosy view, but i really enjoy all of the intrinsic reward programs they promote. pats on the back and verbal praise are common and much appreciated from my end! so i guess what i'm getting at is that i'm happy with my decision to change career paths, and happy that it's worked out even better than i hoped it would :)
annivesaries and milestones are a great time for reflection and since i started working here i've thought a lot about what's different in this role verus my previous role. there are many many differences on the surface, but what i have really enjoyed are the differences in how i feel about my job. i enjoy working for a company that makes decisions that i agree with, decisions i would make for myself. maybe i have a one year rosy view, but i really enjoy all of the intrinsic reward programs they promote. pats on the back and verbal praise are common and much appreciated from my end! so i guess what i'm getting at is that i'm happy with my decision to change career paths, and happy that it's worked out even better than i hoped it would :)
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