What the Conversation Hearts Told Me

Tonight I left school pretty late after my parent-teacher conferences. I went to the grocery store near my house to pick up a few things. As I went through the checkout aisle, the cashier looked at my items: 20 boxes of conversation hearts and posterboard. She smiled and said, "The things we won't do for our kids, right?" My first thought was, What! I don't look old enough to have kids-- let alone school-age kids who are the ones who would need this kind of stuff! And who says a childless girl wouldn't ever need 20 boxes of conversation hearts for herself??

And then I realized it: I am old enough. Goodbye young Dana. Even though I'm not a mother, I feel like I've just reached the mother-age; when I could start being mistaken for a child's mom instead of their really cool, pretty, smart, sophisticated, older sister. Weird.

Danielle

When I was little, I wanted to be this girl when I grew up. Everything she did was perfect. Once when I was in middle school, I found a telephone message that she had written. I studied it, traced her letters, and practiced them over and over. Soon, I had handwriting that was ALMOST as cute as hers. On days when I wore her clothes (sometimes without permission), I felt so cool and mature!

She was my idol when I was younger. And now she's my best friend! Lucky, lucky me!

Happy Birthday Danielle!(if Dawnia's reading this . . . you're my best friend too!)

when i grow up . . .

i want to be a librarian.


if you had to change professions tomorrow, what would you be??

Cute Book!

I have just added this book to my list of books-to-buy. My Children's Lit teacher introduced it to us tonight because it's been rated on several lists as one of the top books published in 2008. I love the author, Mem Fox. But it really won me over because it was such a cute, cute book!

Short synopsis: Babies are born in different places and in different situations. But each baby, "as everyone knows, has 10 little fingers and 10 little toes." 

Buying children's books is a "small" obsession of mine, so this was a pretty exciting find! 

Baby Austin

A few weeks ago my sister-in-law let me come photograph their cute baby. I haven't practiced my photography skills much since I took that class this summer, so I was extremely grateful when she asked me! It was so fun! Here are some of my favorites:





I also snapped some pics of the other kids . . .
Don't I have adorable nieces/nephews?

Thank You, Dr. King

thank you for fighting for equality.

thank you for giving your life for your beliefs.

AND thank you for the day off from school for schoolteachers and children everywhere!!

Anniversary!

It's been 1 wonderful year full of love and happiness. I still love this man more than ever!

Winter Break Project

I received my January issue of Better Homes and Gardens in the mail a few weeks ago. So many articles on organizing!! I went crazy. This is what came of it:

I took our messy, little, cram-packed pantry . . .
Added a few storage containers from Target . . .Spent more than I should have on these cereal boxes . . .Wrote these labels by hand on scraps of cardstock . . .And ended up with a nicer, Better Homes and Gardens-approved pantry!Okay, so BH&G didn't really approve this pantry. But I do! I finished this pantry last night, in the final hours of my "Winter Break." Now I can claim I wasn't entirely lazy for the last 2 weeks off from work!

a wonderful evening

good friends . . . indian food . . . need i say more?
i wish these guys didn't live so far away. =(

Our 1st Christmas (married)

We spent Christmas this year in Utah with Brian's family. It was fun because we got to mesh together some of our old traditions and also make some new ones of our own!

CHRISTMAS EVE:

I spent all day making sugar and gingerbread cookies while watching and re-watching all my favorite Christmas movies.

We headed to Brian's parent's house for Christmas dinner and the nativity re-enactment.
My cute husband as a last minute fill-in for the sheep:
CHRISTMAS DAY:

We woke up to a beautiful WHITE Christmas! Brian & I "opened" presents (which we never wrapped!).
Then we headed to Brian's parent's for Christmas breakfast.
We went sledding!! -I don't think of done that since I was little!
We rushed back to the house to whip up a fancy Christmas dinner: ham, mashed potatoes, yams, stuffing, jell-o, and sparkling cider. Brian's parents and grandmother joined us for the feast! After they left, Brian and I spent the remaining hours of Christmas watching movies, eating pumpkin pie, and enjoying the blizzard going on outside our windows!