Taking Photographs

I've come to realize that I'm not really a picture taker. Some people were just born to do it, have a great eye for it, and a great passion. While I enjoy looking at photos from past events, I now know that I cannot rely on myself to capture exciting times. I'm too selfish having fun. To really get all the good shots, I have to be the 'weirdo behind the camera'. I do this EVERY TIME I tell myself that I'm going to try and capture somethings, and my memory always fails me. So here are the few pictures I got at the Bianca-Mike engagement/early Turkey Day party. I didn't even get a picture of Bianca and Mike. Shameful.

 Mike and Bianca's engagement present. I made it from scratch, by hand, pretty proud.

 Naked Turk

 The snack spread

 My baby

 Jamie

 Bianca always treats us to awesome pictures that go along with the event being had.

 The already devoured turkey.

  In other news, I am waiting for the vet to open so I can call to schedule Luna in. She is tearing herself apart being itchy. She doesn't have fleas, so my totally unprofessional opinion thinks she has a skin allergy. Poor pup.
Saylor is finally over her sickness, just leaving Joe and I. We're fine, just congested. It's worse in the morning and evening.
I have NO work this week due to Thanksgiving break, but Saylor only goes in 2 days, so I'll stay busy with her at home.
Alright, is that all the mundane details of my life recently? I think so! Until next time....

I love Portlandia

This describes how I felt when my iPhone broke:

Photo Updates

 Getting festive for the holiday season approaching

 Our mushroom 'log' produced the oysters, so we harvested last night. I sauteed them and put them on top of some hamburgers, and totally forgot to take pictures!

 Luna at her spot, doing what she does- barking at the birds that come to our bird feeder.

Cheeeese

Novemberishness

Hey all!

   To me, fall is the shortest season of them all, which is a bummer since it's my favorite. Although the calendar still says 'fall', the fact that all the leaves have officially fallen sends my brain the 'winter' signal. Winter is TOUGH here in Oregon, personally, due to the rain and constant overcast. Joe loves it, though.

My good friends Mike and Bianca got engaged last Wednesday!!! I am so so so so happy for them, they are just wonderful people. Bianca is coming up from California this weekend, and we're having an early Thanksgiving dinner. I told her I'd do the turkey, and now that the dinner is creeping in closer I'm getting super nervous!!! Joe is attempting to talk me into just buying a pre-cooked/sliced turkey- but I can't do that! So I'll take pictures and let you guys know how it goes.

Joe's Mom and little brother came to visit for a few days last week. It was so great having them around and I wish they could have stayed longer!

Joe went to Seattle on Friday and got back Sunday evening. It was SO weird being without him this weekend and difficult! Saylor got up at 5 AM each morning and usually Joe is the early riser and gets up with her. I think whoever said 'distance makes the heart grow fonder' really had it right. My appreciation for him shot through the roof when I was left to do everything by myself. He's the best.

Man, I broke my iPhone and have been stuck with the most basic cell phone you've ever seen. However, I think it's been really good for me to be without my iPhone. It is the most convenient thing EVER, and if anyone had ever told me that I would have to give it up, I would have laughed out loud and make them pry it from my lifeless fingers! But now that I literally have had to give it up, I'm starting to see that I can survive without it- and it may actually be really good for me. Sigh.

Well, that's about it for updates. I hope everyone is having a much less rainy version of fall than we're having!

Sleeping Ju Ju Bean

Halloween 2012

Saylor was a "scary ghost" this year. She had SO much fun seeing all the other kids in costume downtown. Joe and I had a blast watching how elated Saylor was. Halloween is definitely one of our favorites. Crisp fall air, cute kids having fun, and it kind of symbolizes the start of the holiday season to me. Hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween!

Mushroom Log Workshop

Joe, Saylor, and I attended a mushroom log workshop. I've never been a fan on mushrooms in culinary terms until VERY recently. But, Joe has always loved them, and is very fascinated in how they work. His interest sparked mine as well. We met a really nice couple at the farmer's market. They had a booth with all these different types of fungi. The talked us into coming and doing this workshop and we had a BLAST! We'll be going to the coast this weekend the the Yachats Mushroom Festival as well. They'll have more workshops and guided mushroom picking tours. So cool! It feels good to get out and learn new things in a hands on environment!

In other news, the 'house buying bug' has bitten both me and Joe again. The fact that we rent is OK, but we both feel really unproductive just throwing money away each month, and having nothing to show for it. It's bitten us a couple of times, but now since I'm working it's seeming a little more plausible. We'll see!

The rain has come and shouldn't go away for a while now! But it's nice having our green grass come back. We biked downtown in the pouring rain yesterday and it was so much fun! We have rain pants/jackets for all 3 of us, plus Saylor is in her rain safe bike carrier. As long as your body stays dry and warm, it stays fun!

Not sure if I mentioned that Saylor's old bike trailer got stolen a month or so ago. But on my way to work yesterday, I passed a homely looking gentleman towing it behind his bike. I just smiled. I was glad to see that someone less fortunate was getting good use out of it, even though I wish he could have gone about it in a more honest way. Truly, if he had just asked me, I would have given him permission to have it! But that's OK.

I hope everyone is LOVING this fall weather and is getting stoked about the plethora of fun holidays that are soon to come. My favorite, HALLOWEEN! Saylor is going to be a "scary ghost"! Not sure what Joe and I will do for Thanksgiving. We have a lot of friends who will be staying in Oregon and missing the time with their families as well, so maybe we'll do a big pot luck! I think I'm finally confident enough in my cooking this year to attempt the turkey!! (?) I'm already getting ready for Christmas, too! Looking forward to getting crafty this year! Well poor Joe- he really doesn't like cinnamon. But fall isn't fall to me without pumpkin, cinnamon EVERYTHING, so I have to wait until he leaves, but then our house gets febreezed, candled, and incensed to smell like HOLIDAY SPIRIT!

Love to you all!

Saylor in School!

 1st day of school!

I always thought that Saylor's first day of school would be a traumatic experience. I envisioned her sobbing and reaching for me as a teacher dragged her away. I saw myself shed a small tear as I knew it was time to leave her. In reality, half of that was true. However, Saylor told me as I held her hand into the classroom, "Okay Mama, I want to go to school by myself, please." Even though it broke my heart a little bit, the majority of me was really proud that she felt so confident going into a new (and a tad bit intimidating) environment! The pre-school she's going to is actually on the Oregon State campus. It's a teaching school, so there are 2 way mirrors, and I was luckily able to monitor Saylor for the first half hour or so. She was so happy there. Her teacher has 'the gift' with children of that age, and Saylor already adores her. Her name is Teacher Kathleen. There are also about 6 other student teachers who are in the classroom as well. I'm very proud of my Ju Ju Bean! It's an exciting time around here, right now!

Exciting because a lot of new things are happening. Along with Saylor starting school, my job, and Joe starting classes again, we are busy bees. Yesterday Joe asked, "when did we get this busy!?" and I said, "I think this is how most people live. We're just spoiled by how slow things moved the first year we were here."  I'm also (starting today) going to start helping a friend of mine who owns her own cleaning business. I'll just help her here and there when she needs it, but I'm excited to be making a little extra money on the side! My cleaning job at the school is going really really well. I'm starting to feel like I'm part of the school's little family-ish community. The faculty is all so sweet, and constantly tell me how much the appreciate my work, and that adds a lot of smiles and pride to what I'm doing. 

I'm also biking to work a lot now. It totals 16 miles both ways, so it's a wonderful work out! I have a really neat app on my iPhone that tracks my route, tells me my time, average speed, fastest speed, elevation, etc. I like having that because it gives me some stats to improve on! Since I've become much more active, I've really been craving healthier foods! I eat an apple a day (no pun intended) and am really becoming more conscious of night time snacking (my usual downfall). I'm enthusiastic about making a life style change, not just another diet. 

An update on Joe- he's doing exceptionally well. We've all had a case of the snuffles recently, but beside that, he's been a trooper with helping out with Saylor while I work- picking her up from school, etc. He's just my best friend and I love him SO much! I feel like I won the husband lottery.

I'll try to keep this updated more often! Until next time- <3 <3 <3