For the Beauty of the Earth

There are only a few things more spiritually relaxing to me than a beautiful fall day. On these days, there is often a moment that comes which takes my breath away and relaxes me completely. When this happens I am usually standing outside, leaning up against the side of a building, taking in the fresh air and soaking up the sun. I am usually thinking of nothing in particular. Then, with a casual turn of my head - BAM! my eyes alight on a harmoneous veiw that catches my breath, clears my vision and helps me to feel connected to God. The picture on the right is one of those views. It is at a cabin near Zion's National Park in Utah.

Marshmallows

Remember when you were little and you roasted marshmallows over the stove with your parents for an FHE or rainy day treat? I do, and I love it! I love sitting around a big fire and smelling like smoke afterward (really, I do, not sarcastic!). But I like roasting marshmallows at home even more. I'm not sure why.

I wish I had a picture of this, but at the end of May/beginning of June Steve and I roasted marshmallows over our gas stove. I would have staged one but he isn't very into that kind of thing (and I am lazy). Oh, and I discovered that I like dark chocolate more than white or milk chocolate on my smores.

Pantalones Colagados

Pantalones Colgados = Hanging Pants in Spanish

Steve left on his Accouting internship today and will be in California for the next two months. This internship is very important to him (and me) and we wanted to make sure that he would fit in with his business casual co-workers. This would normally be easy for an active church goes like himself, but he hasn't bought new formal pants or shoes since his mission and his formal clothes were a more than a little worn. Kohl's had a great deal on pants during their Memorial Day sale and here they are in all of their glory!

(On an interesting but not completely related note, while I was staring at the pants and thinking about making this post he gave me a 30 minute lecture on deferred tax liability. I understood most of it! My favorite line was when he was telling me about the ways to reduce tax liability and he ended his example with the line: "unless the earth implodes". I couldn't help but agree with that earth shattering statement.)


While looking at the pantalones colgados, I thought of a place in Cuenca, Spain that has a tourist attraction called "Las Casas Colgadas" (the hanging houses). The houses were literally hanging over a cliff (see picture I took below) and housed a modern art museum. Pretty cool. Oh, and I should tell you that the date is November 5th; I was going through a Europen phase...

Our Salsa Garden Cont'd

The patch of dirt Steve is standing next to is our work area. Last year it was an old stump, dirt and stredding plastic (yuck!). Our landlord gave us permission to play with it and play we did! Steve took out the stump (he was sore but he got to buy a shovel so it was worth it!) and we planted bulbs. When those died, we bought dirt and planted flowers. This year we had a few bulbs (mostly daffodills), one marigold from last year and now a salsa garden.

In our garden this year we planted three kinds of peppers (bell, serrano and habanero), two kinds of tomatoes (roma and cherry) and one onion plant which I don't expect to survive. The bugs seem to really enjoy our bell pepper plants.

Oh, and Steve decided to do this at 8:45pm on a Saturday. So once again I found myself racing to Home Depot at 9:30pm hoping they weren't closed (they weren't) and buying that one last item. Why is this starting to become a pattern??

I think the stakes look funny with all of that string and I hope that the plants get big enough to grow into the supports we created for them.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Here is the latest dessert eploit - a pumpkin cheesecake! My co-workers liked it, I thought it was okay and Steve is weirded out by pumpkin and wouldn't try even one bite!

I like to bake, but I also like to stay slender and Steve usually becomes my garbage disposal for treats. But since he couldn't step up to the plate this time (which is probably for the best), I gave the job to my co-workers. Not only did the cheesecake vanish, but I got compliments too. What a deal!

Three Month Old

On Memorial Day I took care of a three month old - no it wasn't mine! I offered to take care of my neighbor's baby while she and her husband went to a movie. I guess you could consider this service. However, I think that my desire to watch a baby outweighed my desire to serve, so I would consider my offer more selfish than service!

I had a few bad experiences babysitting when I was younger and so I was a little apprehensive, but my neighbor's little boy and I had a good time! I spent a lot of time walking around, I got peed on and he fell asleep in my arms. He was very well behaved and now I want a child more than ever. I told my neighbor this and she offered to let me have him during a cranky night. I say, bring it on!

I think this will be one of those turning points in my life and I am grateful that my neighbor let me watch her son for a little while.

(Sorry I don't have a picture. Please believe me when I say that he is very adorable.)

Gilmore Girls

So I just finished watching "Gilmore Girls, Season 1". I laughed. I cried. I was confused. I was proud of myself when I wasn't confused. In summary, I throughly enjoyed myself. (I think the cheetos helped.)

The series has a lot of references. It has references to movies, famous people, music, history etc. I am not very up-to-date with these kinds of things, but even though I didn't always understand the references, I felt smart. I like feeling smart. Therefore I liked the series (thanks Aristotle!).

I like that the series felt real. I felt like I could just jump into the screen and have a snack at Luke's or take a class at Patty's or attend a town meeting. I'm not sure Lorelai and Rory would want me to be their friend, but I would definately belong to the town.