I'm An Auntie!

Presenting... Harper Joyce Dart-McLean!

My little niece!

Check out more about her at my sister, Jessyka's,  blog, Life at Latitude 60.56!  

life is good

first off... I thought a few more 25 before 25s.
-Take a boxing class! I have always wanted to check it out, and they are offering a free first class at a gym by me.
Sooo before may.. I will go!
-re-read the bible and look at it as more than literature but not get my hopes up that it will speak to me. I was raised catholic and have read the good book before. But not with bible study books or even a truely open mind. It will be an experience even if it isn't for me. :)
- start a daily yoga practice where I feel at ease in my routine

secondly...
how did i land such
a stinkin cute husband??

I am in love....

...with these boots!

I think they might have to be my splurge for Fall...

They are the Frye Harness boots...

Find them here.

Ahhhhhh!

Erik and I just bought tickets to see Harry Potter at Midnight and I CANNOT WAIT!!!! I loved all the books and all the movies and I am just so excited... that I can hardly breathe... 

AH AH AH AH!!!

YAYYYY!

Happy Birthday, Will!!

I love love love you sooo much!

I am so proud of the man you have become!

Can't wait to come visit you on Friday!

Happy 22nd Birthday!

i love you daddyo

Happy Father's Day!

Thanks for teaching us, by example, how to be thoughtful, generous, loving people. 

i love you so much! 

Outdoor Rooms

Since it has been cold in Oregon lately...
I have been dreaming of living somewhere warmer...
or it being summer at the Oregon Coast...
Here are some amazing outdoor rooms.. 
That make me want to just sit back, relax, and enjoy! 

Interior Design: Blues

A friend of mine is in the process of maybe having a home with her fiance and asked me to help decorate the inside! I am sooo excited! I love picking out cool inspiration pictures then trying to make the room similar on a very low budget! Here are some inspirational pictures I think she would like!

Maybe not.. but I know she loves blue and I love these rooms! :)

Soup and Yoga Wednesday!

So, as I said yesterday, one of the new things of 2011 is that it is soup/yoga Wednesday. My mother and I are going to Kundalini Yoga every wednesday at 7pm. So we decided that we would make soup in the slowcooker every week so that we could eat ebfopre yoga and our husbands could eat whenever they wanted during the evening. So, Today we are making...

Roasted Tomato Soup with Spinach Pesto! 

To be served with grilled cheese sandwiches!

And then we'll be off to Yoga to get some relaxing, heart pumping (oxymoron?) exercise done.

So Happy Soup/Yoga Wednesday Everyone!

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Recently, Erik and I decided we want to visit Santa Fe, New Mexico or somewhere close to there for our one year anniversary trip. I really want to check it out because neither of us has ever been there. Doesn't it look amazing? 

Has anyone ever been there? 

And if so, How is it?

Happy Friday!

Today is a big day. I got off work early, so I am going to go Christmas shopping! Then all the ladies from my family and Jessyka's in-laws are going to a spa day! I am not entirely sure what this entails but I am pretty sure that manicures and champagne are involved and that works for me! Then... I am going to a holiday cocktail party! I cannot wait! 
Happy Friday, Everyone!

Winter Break Reading

 

So, starting today I am on a two month long break from school. So I need to get back into my hobbies: reading and cooking... So in order to do this.. I need your help. 

I need:

Book Suggestions?

Recipes?

Let me know! Thanks so much!

Currently Listening to: "Angel" -Matt Nathanson

Holiday Favorites

• The tree and other decorations being lit and glittering when you walk down the stairs first thing in the morning.
• How much more often people want to sit around and just talk or play board games instead of watching television.
• That all my siblings are all in the same city.
• All the holiday drinks at coffee shops.
• How everyone just seems so much more cheery... (or really pissed off). Emotions run really high during the holidays.
• How everything is decorated to the nines. Either it be colorful ornaments or white snowflake decor. I love it all.
• Seasonal Beer selection (especially Ebenezer and Sleigher)
• Christmas Carols
• Candy Canes and Christmas cookies
• Christmas themed movies that only come out during December!

I am sure there are many more things I love that I just cannot think of right now... But I love the holidays!

What is your favorite thing about the holidays? 

Listening to: "Sleigh Ride" - Cincinnati Pop Orchestra

Happiness Experiment

I have been thinking  lot in the past couple days about my happiness experiment. When I started this blog I was really trying to look at happiness as a vocation not as an emotion or state of being. I have realized that I am a very happy person, but when you are stressed out or working a lot or just kind of stuck in the same day to say rut, you start to be in bad moods more often and get down on yourself.

So, I have decided that when I was doing the happiness experiment, I was indeed a lot happier, in the basic day to say cliche happiness definition. I was smiling more and thinking less about what was stressing me out. So, it is time to do that again. Some things lately that have made me very happy:

• My husband and family of course are always first and foremost when I think of what makes me happy. It is such a blessing that when Erik and I are still in school that we can live at my parents house, it is cute, two married couples rooming together. And, I am counting down the days till all my siblings are home because I am so happy when they are in touching distance of me, where I can read their expressions instead of guessing through a phone call or text. Also, my new family that I have married into, they make me so happy with their dinner parties and beautiful senses of humor.

•  Lately, blogging everyday has helped me to gather my thoughts or more so, show you pictures of my thoughts. It makes me happy to read other people's blogs too. :) It makes me feel more creative and helps me to see how little things do effect other people as well, I read their blogs and feel more connected to the world at large. 

•  Getting along with friends, especially my best girlfriends. All my best girlfriends have all become such beautiful interesting women and they are all in committed loving relationships so it is so fun to talk about life and get together and just laugh. Caitlin, Amanda, Amanda, and Jenny have truly come to be amazing women and I am proud to call them my best friends.

•  Decorating and organizing. I never thought much about it, since I do not like cleaning. But I am actually really good at both these things. I reorganized my mom's craft/sewing area and it looks so great! 

•  Some things that I have stopped doing but made me so happy before, so I must start again: Yoga, Cooking, Reading. I used to do all three on an almost daily basis and with school and work I realized that I let them slip out of my daily routine. I must bring them back. 

Thanks for listening! Happiness Experiment Continues...

New Roomies!

Happy Happy. :)

I want to live on this street...

... because its beautiful. 

Happy Friday!

Happiest day of my life thus far!

I love my husband!  

Kitchens

I think about my future kitchen probably way more than any normal person does.

I think that kitchens are sooo important to family life.

I want ours to be big and open and have a breakfast bar and island! 

I love this bottom kitchen so much I wish I could just make it appear. 

Ah I cannot wait till Erik and I build a family and a home!

Date Night Tonight!

Volleyball practice for tonight got cancelled so Erik and I are going to go on a much needed date! I miss going on dates all the time.. Erik and I used to go on a date at least once a week and since school started I don't think we've even been on one... so sad! So tonight, date night! Yay! 

Sushi then Parenthood and Grey's! 

We're loving married life! 

Listening to: "Bixby Canyon Bridge" Death Cab For Cutie

Word of the Day Wednesday!

Today when I was logging on to write about "Win the Lottery Wednesday" I realized that I was having a really hard time thinking of something. Sure, there are lots of things we would do if Erik and I won the lottery, but its stuff like: pay off student loans, buy a house, pay off our parent's houses, buy Erik and my dad new cars. Its stuff that isn't very exciting and will run out very quickly. Therefore, I decided instead I will do a "Word of the Day Wednesday" which will be much more educational, fun, not money orientated, and will never run out of material (at least not as long as I have this blog realistically). So. To Start off a new wednesday tradition we'll start with....

Happiness

Webster's dictionary defines it as: "the quality or state of being happy: good fortune; pleasure; contentment; joy"

I think that these are very good definitions because happiness can come from all different things, all different times, and can be either a flippant simple moment or a serious, earth shattering moment. I think everyone needs to lower their expectations about the earth shattering moments and just enjoy the simple little bouts of happiness that can happen throughout the day! I strive for happiness everyday and the days that I can't quite achieve it because I am in a bad or sad mood are the worst. I am trying to make those days be very few and far between. 

Good luck to everyone else striving for happiness!

Listening to "Holiday From Real" Jacks Mannequin