scrappin' on a tuesday

these are some of the pictures that herb took of me in mexico this spring.
we were on a bike ride and saw an outcropping
so we ditched out bikes and peaked over the edge
to find this beautiful piece of beach below
covered in small conch shells
i mean COVERED!
i asked herb to take some pics of me
and let's keep it real . . .
because i don't want to fall into the blog & scrapbooking temptation
of just sharing the nice and pretty stuff . . .
the truth is that herb gets kind of embarassed when i asked him to take my pictures -
like a little photo shoot . . .
not his favorite thing.
and things can get kind of weird and tense
because i like having my picture taken
and he doesn't really get it.
but he is a good sport about it.

i laid down on the shells,
right where the tide was hitting when it came in
and herb took pics as the waves washed over me
they are such beautiful pictures
they just remind me to live from the essence of myself.
not to get caught up in what others want me to be
but to really know myself
who god made me to be
get to know THAT girl
really really well
take good care of her and let her soar!

these pics just remind me of freedom
simplicity
no complications
essence
peace

do you have a favorite picture of yourself?

looking back

a fun little question posed on this blog today
led me to dig into my pictures to see what i was doing a year ago today
i didn't take anything on june 7th last year
but these were taken saturday june 10, 2006
at the estes park beer festival

man, our life sure is fun!

last week i took some pictures of my beautiful friend stacy and her amazing new little bebe . . .
hutch.

i have to say,
everytime i take "real" pictures
i gain more and more respect for people
who do this professionaly.
dude - it is HARD!

but i think this handful turned out pretty well.

if you have any input (constructive) feel free to drop me an email or leave a comment.

O.U.T

Out.
That is what I am.
In Missouri.
Visiting family and my best friends.
Missing Herbie.
But you know what they say about distance.

Hope to have some fun pictures to share when I get back - hacking around with the camera lately. Man, it is NOT easy to take great pictures.
Next stop, learn how to use Photoshop!

But first, family time and that fantastic river rock massage tomorrow! YES!

What have YOU been looking forward to lately???

Snapshot

(a shot from yesterday)


in seminary, we talked about spiritual formation in the context of "knowing, being, and doing".

so . . .
today . . . .

knowing:
i am loved. by god. by herb. by friends. it is a good thing.
it is okay . . . it is all okay.
a little bit at a time, for a long time produces great progress.
there is grace for me and for me to give to others.

being:
patient
nervous
wound up
trying to enjoy
grateful
filled with joy
quiet

doing:
painting & art-making . . . lots of experimenting and giving myself permission to just create without expectation
volutneering at the hospital
inhaling and exhaling
swimming
margarita drinking

have a great day!

A Story in Pictures

sHow are you doing today?

Today at the Harjes Haus . . .

listening to a little bonnie raitt today . . . she always makes me smile and dance a sexy little dance!
go bonnie go!
it is a rainy day . . .
just perfect for testing out all of my . . . well, i don't even know what they are called.
gels and varnishes . . .

basically, i spent an hour or so just messing around, mixing different mediums into my paint to see what would happen.
i think the super cool, "i have funky colored hair and you don't" girl behind the counter at the art store must have thought i was nuts when i showed up at the counter with all of these mediums.
she was probably thinking, "amateur! you are buying four things that basically do the same thing" . . .
and i thought about making a cute comment so she would know that i am indeed NOT an amateur.
then i thought, "but i AM an amateur. that's okay."
i left her alone.

then i went to the pool last night after work and felt like an amateur again when the girl i was sharing a lane informed me that she needed to get into another lane because the older gentleman and i were going a bit too slow and she was getting ready to start her workout.
what?
seriously?
she had already been kicking our butts!
and she was just beginning her workout?
that was her warm-up?
after noticing that she was faster than her new lane partner . . .
who happened to be on the Master's Team . . .
i consoled myself by telling myself that she must be training for the Olympic trials.

well . . . she might be.

anyway, i realized that when i just DO something . . .
sometimes, ANYTHING . . .
i have fun . . . more fun . . . than if i just sat on the sidelines wishing i could paint or swim fast.

this week i have been having fun swimming slow and playing around with my paints.
so there you go.

herb and I went to counseling this morning.
things are really moving fast for us . . . finally in a good direction.
we are so thankful.
on the way home, I suggested we run by Target for a quick little peak at the fun new pretty stuff . . .
well, an hour later . . .
I found some books for my pal Noble Sing Nanda . . . a four year old who reads at a second grade level.
Noble recently went to the doctor's office for a check-up.
he had so many questions that the doctor just handed him her copy of Grey's Anatomy and told him to take it home to read with his mom and grandma!
I hope these will serve as some lighter reading for him on the side!

In other news:
We are picking out new cars, as the lease on my car ends in a few weeks. Hmmmmmm.


There is lots and lots of work for me to do at this week at "the office" (basically, wherever i choose to set up shop at any given moment becomes, "the office").


And, just in case you are curious . . . here is our new living room set up. We hosted a little party on Easter and moved some furniture around to different rooms in the house. This is what we came up with. We like it.


Bye!

ps - i am very proud of herb . . . and this project he did earlier this month!

Highlights

A few highlights from our trip . . .

* the last taco stand on the strip of restaurants on the ferry dock. we sat with the owner and his friend while we waited for our boat to arrive. the owner was right when he said he was about to serve me "the best margarita" i would have while in mexico.
* the twighlight ferry boat ride AWAY from the lights and noise of cancun . . . the warm, humid air felt so good on my skin after our long long long cold cold cold ridiculous winter!
* as we rounded a corner, we heard the shouting and laughing of hundreds of children. herb thought i was about to navigate us away from the noise and he near-panickly declared, "We have to go see what that noise is!!!!" As we crested the hill, we saw what appeared to be half of the community out cheering on the middle-school girls basketball team.
* Nightly sunset cocktails on the third story rooftop patio.
* Walking through the neighborhood where we stayed and people watching. With the tourists being mostly contained to two thouroughfares, we really enjoyed tooling around the community.
*Watching the way other cultures do such a neat job of letting family, work, and play all sort of bleed together . . . life is life. None of this compartmentalizing stuff.
* The color of the water - unbelievable! i have never seen anything like it before!
* Making an unexpected connection with another guest at the hotel we stayed at.
* Taking pictures of the early morning fishermen cleaning their catches - one of the men moved the mouth of his fish, making it "sing" to me.
* Riding bikes with herb down the coast; stopping for a fun photo shoot on a hidden strip of beach that was covered in conch shells and then drinks at a peaceful hotel with an amazing oceanside swing bar.
* Being the only non-locals at an ocean-side restaurant.
* Took a $5 cab ride to the end of the island where we snorkeled and rested in a secluded park strewn with hammocks and little niches to sit. It was so quiet we could hear a half-dozen different kinds of birds.
* The guests in our hotel got along so well that one guest initiated a dinner party on friday night. Everyone work together to make the party happen.
* Amazing mexican breakfasts every morning made by jose.
* Waking up in time to watch the sunrise from the rooftop; then taking an early morning walk with my camera down the coast.
* Buying a coconut from a man with a machette.
* Great talks with herbie.

Color and Texture and Light - OH MY!

I had so much fun playing with our camera on our trip. I am such a hands on learner . . . so getting up early and going out at sunset was the perfect way to start playing around with sunlight and color. Loved it!

On Our Way

The flight is at 11:40am.
The plan is to leave at 9am.
Guess who was ready at 8am with bags packed and a "can do!" attitude?!?!?!


Tell you what, if you leave a comment while I am gone with your name and your fave vacation that you've been on, I will draw two names when i get home and send out a little souvenir from mexi-co-oh-my-goodness-we-are-going-to-have-so-much-fun!

(BTW- my post about the weather not being perfect a few few days ago was totally cheeky . . . not at all actually complaing. oh no, this girl is quite grateful for all of the little treats and luxuries I have been given!)

Thanks

When Herb and I started dating, one of our jokes was that we couldn't wait to get married, move to the suburbs, and buy a mini-van for me to drive. In this tongue-in-cheek, "no way in the world will this ever be our reality", fantasy, I would be a scrapbooker with a bad haircut.

Well, something odd happened along the way. I actually became curious about scrapbooking. It began our first Christmas when I was buying stocking stuffers for herb. I found a small, sophisticated black scrapbook in the dollar section. I bought it. I didn't have time to do anything with it before Christmas. But for Valentine's day, I used it to tell our love story. I used some pictures, but mostly my handwriting, doodeling, and passages from my old journals. I love love loved making it and it is the one handmade gift I have made him that he goes back to over and over again.

But still.
Scrapbooking?
I bought a magazine.
And a few pretty patterned papers from Target.

And I let it all sit, tucked away for about six months.
Somewhere in there, I saw an article in a magazine by this girl . And i figured that if she could scrapbook, so could I.
Then, I saw this gal's blog and thought . . . "oh, yeah . . . scrapbooking. i have all those pretty papers tucked away. I can do this. If they can do this, I can totally do this."

SO, thanks Elsie and Jody for scrapbooking.

Today, Elsie shared her favorite picture on her blog. And asked "us" to show ours.
Sort of a less dirty version of "I'll show you mine if you show me yours."

So, here are a few faves from the past couple of years.

I of course love this smoochy italitan honeymoon picture.

And then there are these two which perfectly show off my husband's character . . . hard-working and playful! Plus, who gets the chance to help two old italian fishermen dock their little boat!?!?!?

Little Booger

For just a moment, I thought I would go back to the original theme of this blog . . . the thoughts that whirl through the mind of a newlywed.

This is a picture of my cousin's little girl, Aly.
Three and a half years old.
Six hours togehter.
And this is the best picture I could get of her.
Honestly.
Finger up the nose.

Here we are 14 months into this thing and as I think about having our own children, I am suprised at my mixed bag of emotions. There are moments when I am ready to have a big fat belly and the impending 25 years of obligation . . . I always thought I would be ready to start our family at the obligitary two year mark . . . but most moments . . . when I am feeling most sane . . . I can't imagine that!

We still have so much to learn and so many ways to grow before we throw little ones into the mix. Really, it wouldn't be fair: "Sorry little Johnnie, you will have to wait for your breastfeeding until mommy is not pissed at daddy anymore . . . I would hate for all of these angry hormones to get passed over to you through my breast milk." I mean truly, can you imagine! Naming a newborn baby "Johnnie"! I just couldn't do it!

The truth is, we actually don't fight the way we did during our first year of marriage. We have made a lot of movement and growth. But I just can't imagine the energy it would take.

I think we drained all of that kind of energy from each other during the days of "Mine! MINE!!! MINE!!!!!" "That's my way of doing things . . . those are my issues that your are pushing! That's MY set of dishes that I never cared about before but I will not give them up because of you! They are mine!"

We certainly didn't need kids around here, we already had two big babies! And now, we are toddlers . . . not much better. I suppose once we make it past the third grade phase of "ooooh, girls are gross!", we might be able to consider it.

URBAN CORNOCOPIA





GRATEFUL HOUSE















GRATEFUL GIRL