Going on Holiday...

Photo courtesy of www.nefla.com/stpetersburg/

The time has finally come to see my beloved (and my dear Belle and my dear Sara!)

I leave tomorrow for St. Petersburg, Florida on the first of my many adventures to come this spring/summer. Many of these adventures will include the beach, a canoe, a boat, the lake, rivers, etc. All of this means the time has also come when I will be forced yet again into a swimming suit!

I love to be outdoors especially when I get to be in or near water, but the thought of being in a swimming suit does give me a small bit of anxiety (as I'm sure it does many other women!) I know I am far from overweight, just completely out of shape!

That being said, I'm not really unhappy with the way I look, but if it's all the same, I would like to send out my happiness salute to: the one piece (especially one pieces with that-friend-to-a-woman-with-a-belly, ruching!)

This is the cute little number I selected this year, from J.Crew:

Low cut enough to show the goods, with enough ruching to cover up the bads!

Now all I need is a tan and my man!

Strike!

My parents came into town this weekend for a short visit. My dad's final season of couching girls' basketball is over and he has a little time to kill before track starts, so they took this opportunity (spring break) to come up to see me and to see my sister, Rachel and her husband Leon's new place.

We had a wonderful dinner at Little Apple Brewery (I had some delicious Coconut Milk Lemongrass Mussels) and then decided to go bowling!

As much as I love to bowl, I am highly, highly inconsistent. On the way to the bowling alley I bragged that I had one game when I was in league bowling (the league for restaurant and bar employees) I bowled something like 164 (I might have stretched it to 184). I knew it was a fluke, but I just had to mention it....and I paid for that.

What did I bowl you ask? Well, let's just say I came in 6th out of 6 bowlers (I bowled a 54, okay!)

But, I still had fun with my family, minus Kellen and plus my friend Anton!

Maybe I should practice before our next family bowling adventure!

Proposals...

www.nbc.com

One of my favorite shows is The Office. I admit that over the past few seasons it has lost a little of the spark it had in the first 4 seasons or so. But, even dwindling, it is still one of the best shows on television.

In every episode we see boss, Michael Scott, act like and ass or screw something up, always while making us laugh. He is a lovable screwball and finally found his match in fellow lovable screwball, Holly Flax.

Well, in last night's episode Michael finally proposes to Holly...and I cried! I haven't cried like that over a sitcom proposal since Chandler proposed to Monica on Friends and, while not a proposal, when Big went to Paris and professed his love to Carrie in the series finale of Sex and the City.

Yes, I know, I shouldn't get all weepy over a television show and the lives of people who are not real, and maybe, just maybe, I should get a life.

But hey, I can't help it. It makes me happy to see people find their true love...even if its interrupted by commercial breaks.

Happy Haiku

Here is another activity from The Happy Book:

The beauty of haiku comes from being economical with your words (a recession friendly poem!)-you're forced to describe things as simply as possible (first line: five syllables, second line: seven syllables, third line: five syllables), and in the process, you find new ways of thinking and describing. Write a series of haikus about your favorite things.

Here are a few of my haikus:

It takes just one click

To capture simple beauty

And share it with all.

You read the first word

Immediately taken

To a world beyond

One half teaspoon here

Now a whole cup is added

Everything changes

Dipping under trees

While following the river

Tripping over logs

New notes meet your ears

A melody ripples through

Words that spin your head

Golden Oldies

I spent this wonderfully windy day with my dear friend, Katie, scouring area antique stores for bits and pieces for her September nuptials.

We tore apart Manhattan, Wamego and Paxico and found many treasures. My favorite find was this little pottery studio called Whirling Earth Pottery & Gallery in Wamego, right on their main drag. Here are some other sights we saw.

I would love to use this old wood working bench as a dining room table!

I always feel overwhelmed in antique shops and flea markets because there is just so much to see. But, I think that makes it all the more special when you find that perfect something (like the $500 butcher block island I found that I've always wanted for my kitchen....someday!)

I definitely had a smile on my face all day, especially when we made it all the way to Topeka before realizing we had missed our exit about 20 miles back! I guess when good friends get to gabbing, we lose track of everything else!

Compliments to the Chef....

Do you know what I like more than peanut butter cheesecake? When my ROOMMATE bakes me a peanut butter cheesecake!

I got home from a very long day at work and my dear roommate, Denali, had cooked us chicken noodle soup (sans chicken) and mashed potatoes and the aforementioned cheesecake. This was no ordinary cheesecake, oh no. It was a peanut butter cheesecake with a sugar cookie crust topped with green apples and melted caramels. Let the drooling begin....

Thank goodness I'm wearing a one-piece to the beach this year!

A Day at the Park

Finally a day that actually feels hot! And I can't think of a better way to spend it than at the park with my sister, Rachel, her step-daughter Aliya and Aliya's brother Jaylen.

We had a picnic complete with roast beef sandwiches, hawaiian bread with dill dip, and strawberries (even using my old fashioned picnic basket!)

In front of the fountain in City Park

My dad would be proud of Aliya's running form!

A peace sign from Jaylen up high!

Aliya skipping around the playground

Now she needs a break...

...And so does Jaylen

Jaylen spinning Aliya

Spinning together

Aliya waiting on someone to spin her

Worn out and ready to go home!

The kids had a blast playing at the playground in City Park and they can't wait to come back to swim at the new pool!

Creative Juice (Not To Be Confused With Gin and Juice)

Few things make me as happy or cause me to lose track of time like working on photographs.

Every so often I go back through photos from my road trip last summer and work on them, tweak them and make them more beautiful (at least to me). Here are a few I just finished.

I hope at least one of these puts a smile on your face!

Etsy.com (Don't Say I Didn't Warn You)

For those of you who don't know about Etsy, you are about to be enlightened.

Etsy.com is a wonderful website where anyone can buy and sell homemade or vintage goods. Just be careful because you can spend hours and hours searching through countless pages (I know because I have spent many a Friday night, including this one, cruising through page upon page of vintage dresses!)

When I say you can find anything on this website, I mean ANYTHING. If you have someone in your life who is impossible to shop for....trust me, you will find them something creative and unique on Etsy.

Really I could spend paragraph upon paragraph explaining all the little nooks and crannies of Etsy, but it's really more fun to go explore it yourself (once you discover how to create a treasury, you will lose even more time....family members and friends will start to wonder why they haven't seen you in awhile.)

So, go forth my dear friend and see what you can find.

P.S. While you are perusing Etsy, keep in mind my birthday is July 25! wink, wink

More from the Happy Book....

Dog at the Whitefish Farmers' Market in Whitefish, Montana

So, I've been a bit lazy lately with the blog, so here is another activity from The Happy Book:

Come up with a goal, big or small, and celebrate when you hit it. Write about it.

Here's my goal for the Spring/Summer:

I'm going to be a vendor at the Downtown Manhattan Farmers' Market, and I am making it a goal to sell 1o photographs by the end of the summer.

Now you...

Ma Petite Belle

This little sweet pea is Ike's dog Belle. She makes me incredibly happy. I've know very few dogs as smart or as spry as this sweet gal. She is nearly 10 years old, but gets around like a young pup. She loves hiking trails, riding in Ike's pickup (watching for deer and cows), playing with her friend Maizie and she really loves eating Snaps!

I hope she's having fun in Florida and I can't wait to see her (and Ike) soon!