Summer Favorites

Sweet lady Lin and a couple other gals are hosting Random Thursday, and this weeks topic is favorite things about summer! 

I do not like summer, because summer is hot hot hot, especially now spending my first (10-month long) summer in Texas. But aside from the heat and AC bills, between the bug bites and frizzy hair, even I can find some good things about my least favorite season. 

 Cold Treats. A particular abundance of them. 

Hanging out in the backyard, reading, tanning, longing for the air conditioned indoors, whathaveyou. 

 Flip flops and sandals all the time! Though in Texas this is a year round luxury. 

 Outdoor adventures.

BBQ

via

Summer movies. 

via

Birthday times, both for Kyle and I, and a lot of friends too. 

Though my favorite summertime of all is summertime in Finland.

And, funny enough, almost exactly a year ago I wrote a post about my summer favorites, you can see here. 

-Mrs. M

Lately and Day 9

There was a marathon of seasons 1 and 2 of The Walking Dead this weekend. Kyle and I hadn't seen the second season, so we were looking forward to it, even though I totally forgot until around noon on Saturday when someone reminded me it was going on. Anyway, it was awesome. I guess this is a world where nobody had heard of zombies? Or else you'd think they'd just call them zombies. Also, a lot of people get hurt from non-zombie related incidents, and that is frustrating, but oh well.

Kyle has been on a weird Army schedule with night guard shifts, and so the days/nights kind of blurr and sleep is more sporadic, meals together less frequent. I am not a fan but I'll take this over Afghanistan any blurry day/night!

Also, the city of Temple (where we live) was declared to be in a state of disaster early yesterday, as power was lost at the water treatment plant and they could not make our water safe. I learned this the hard way, as I went out to do some errands and bring back Subway for us before Kyle went to work, only to discover everything (though Target was open, so yes I went there) was closed until further notice due to there not being any water. At this point power has resumed I guess but they are not yet fully functioning, so we are still on a level 3 water restriction (basically don't water your lawns, people) and are told to boil our water before consuming it. Thankfully I have one of those extra large brita filters in the fridge so I haven't had to do that yet. Weird stuff.

On to the 15 Day Challenge! Thank you to Sar for hosting this; it has been a lot of fun so far! :)


Describe the best day of your life to date.

I hope I'm not the only one who can't/isn't picking one day, but I think picking one whole 24 hour day out of all the days of my life is a difficult task! I think it is easier to think of life in terms of events and happenings, a series of ups and downs, regardless of whether it lasted a day or a few hours or a month. Some great times lately have been: getting into grad school, our first Christmas together in our first house together right after Kyle got back from Iraq, getting married, the kittens joining our family as little 7-week olds, and our wedding celebration a few weeks ago!

-Mrs. M

Day 8

Describe "the good, the bad and the ugly" of yourself.

The Good:
- I am very self-motivated. I don't need anyone motivating me to succeed or work hard and I imagine that is a good thing.
- I really like school and the work.
- I have strength, creativity, and a nurturing instinct.

The Bad:
- Misophonia
- I feel pain often.

The Ugly:
- I can be quite anxious and hide behind things.
- I don't think I am usually unhappy, but it is a challenge for me to be genuinely happy.
- Both of these lead me to not live life to the fullest.

-Mrs. M

About a Book

Day 7: Recommend a book for us to read. Why do you think it's important?

My pick: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. 

I read this book in September 2008, and it changed my life. Well, it contributed to changing it, at least. Kyle had previously read and highly recommended this book (and I'm sure it contributed to him being a history and philosophy of science major), and I was finally reading it during my first semester of sophomore year at American University. It is the kind of book that makes you think, makes you want to think. I couldn't help but fill it with sticky notes and tabs (pictured, haha), fill pages in a notebook with my rambling thoughts and questions. One Saturday in particular, I had the closest to what I imagine an epiphany would feel like. I was going between reading this book, and working on things for my cross cultural communications and psychology courses. They were courses to satisfy general education requirements, as I was at the time majoring in Business.  I'm not sure how or what happened, but the combination of the philosophy, anthropology and psychology all floating around in my head just hit me all at once. It was all connected, and it was all more important than anything else I could think of. Business isn't what I wanted and needed to be learning, it was people. I think I knew that all along, but I hadn't really known about or explored all these majors I didn't know existed. I just wanted to think about and learn about people; what could be more important? I ended up switching majors and switching schools. It is certainly one of the, if the the most memorable, books I have read. Even if I forget a lot about it (I have a terrible long-term memory for things I've read), I always remember the weight of it and how it made me think. 

I didn't want to spend too much time telling you actually what the book is about; it is a philosophical adventure, it is haunting and unforgettable.  It can get heavy at times, but it forces you to take it slowly, stop and think about your own life and humanity. I'm really getting an urge to read it again, actually! Here is some info courtesy of Wikipedia (but it is best to just read it):

"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values (ZAMM) is a 1974 philosophical novel, the first of Robert M. Pirsig's texts in which he explores his Metaphysics of Quality.

The book describes, in first person, a 17-day journey on his motorcycle from Minnesota to California by the author (though he is not identified in the book) and his son Chris, joined for the first nine days by close friends John and Sylvia Sutherland. The trip is punctuated by numerous philosophical discussions, referred to as Chautauquas by the author, on topics including epistemology, ethical emotivism and the philosophy of science.

In ZAMM, Pirsig explores the meaning and concept of quality, a term he deems to be undefinable. Pirsig's thesis is that to truly experience quality one must both embrace and apply it as best fits the requirements of the situation. According to Pirsig, such an approach would avoid a great deal of frustration and dissatisfaction common to modern life."

Other honorable mentions:

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

anything by Bill Bryson

Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
Theogony by Hesiod

-Mrs. M

Dinner with a Few Old Men

If you could have dinner with any five people, who would they be?


I came up with my list largely with my husband in mind, as obviously he would be one of the five. I thought of some folks that we would both be interested in chatting and eating with, and apparently we have a thing for older men with facial hair. 

Theodore Roosevelt and Charles Darwin

Kyle (I didn't have a cool, intense black and white photo of him, and he is not an old man, otherwise he would fit right in!) and Liam Neeson

and, Mystery Family Member

Teddy Roosevelt is one of Kyle's favorites. Kyle knows much more about him than I do, but when his list of achievements include hunter, soldier, naturalist, author, explorer, and president of the United States, I am not surprised that Kyle is fascinated by him. I think he would be an extremely interesting person to talk to. Charles Darwin is a no-brainer for us. I love evolution, talking about it, learning about, getting frustrated when people don't believe in it (it's not even something to believe in or not, it's, you know, fact). I would love love love to chat with Darwin about it. I hope he would be pleased that we named our cat after him. Liam Neeson is on this list because I figured I should have one movie/music star, and Liam Neeson is awesome. He has his own genre of movies (called "Liam Neeson movies") and an awesome accent, so that is good enough for me. The last person I'd like to have to dinner would be someone whose name I don't know, a person I really don't know anything about, because I don't know who they are. My mom was adopted and my curiosity about her and half of my biological family has been on the rise. I am half black (mom) and half white (dad), and I know that the Havilands (my maiden name) ended up in Canada as they were loyalists during the revolution (I know I know, Independence Day just happened and I did in fact partake in festivities), but I know nothing of my other half. So I'd love for someone along the family line to come to dinner, and learn a little bit more about where I came from. 

S. 

Day 4

What's your favorite childhood memory?

Times like these you really have to focus on the good in your life. My family at home is in an unexplained and sudden state of unwraveling, and I am just glad that I've got my brothers and sister, and my own little family started here to depend on and keep me sane. I don't think I have the emotions or energy to spare sorting through my childhood to come up with my favorite memory, but here is a picture of little ol' me, on my fourth birthday in July 1992. We had just moved from Canada to California not too long before, and we were celebrating my birthday in Sunnyvale.

I'm looking forward to tomorrows prompt, so I'll be back with a more substantial post then! I may have something wedding related for you later today, also. Happy Fourth of July, friends!  :) 

S.

Day 3

Tell about an article of clothing that you're deeply attached to. 

kinda sorta like this. 

With this prompt, nothing immediately jumped to my mind. I went through my closet and Kyle's closet in my head; I think I'm attached to anything that smells like him (especially when we were dating/engaged/married and didn't live in the same state or country) . I thought back to the past and quickly a pair of pants formed in my mind. I used to have a pair of black sweat pants that I got on a high school theater trip; they said BACK STAGE on the butt and they were the best sweat pants ever. In high school I worked back stage, starting with front of house and costume crew, painting sets, and ending up assistant stage managing and stage managing a couple productions senior year. I also stage managed five productions at American University in my two years there. Anyway- these pants! I wore them around the house all the time, had them in Finland and after, and sewed up the legs more than once when they started splitting at the seam from the bottom. I think the final blow to them was when I spilled a candle on them in my room in Pittsburgh. Their time was up. It's not very like me to wear butt pants, but that's what I liked about them. Kyle and I made it our quest to get me a pair of Pitt sweatpants with paw prints on the butt, and I have a comfy pair, but they're not as perfect as my theater pants were. 
S. 

15 Day Challenge // July 1

Friends are visiting and we spent the day in Austin; sorry for the late post!

List 15 fun facts about yourself.

1. I got a tattoo today! More on that tomorrow. :)

2. The first CD I owned was Alanis Morissette "Jagged Little Pill." I got it for Christmas with my first CD player. The first concert I went to was also Alanis Morissette. Looking back, I have no clue how I as an eight year old had any connection to her music, but I loved it.

3. I had surgery on my left wrist senior year of high school (2006). This after years of physical therapy, a month in a cast, a handful of different braces, a shot, and several doctors. I think it is mostly OK now.

4. If I eat something that makes me sick or I am for some reason sick after, I won't eat that thing for a long time. This happened with pizza and chocolate when I was in elementary school. I was that weird kid that brought a lunchable to class on pizza party day.

5. When my family was moving from Canada to California, I was 3. Our upstairs apartment neighbors were tossing down candy or something to us, we took a limo to the airport, and I threw up in the limo. Classic Sarah (I threw up for the first six months of my life).

6. Celebrities I've met: Al from Home Improvement, Maroon 5, Jason Mraz and Toca, BJ Novak. I feel like I am forgetting someone else. Also I grew up in CA in the town that MC Hammer did, and his daughter was on my sister's softball team. He wore all black and sunglasses.

7. We almost adopted a boxer/lab puppy July 2010, but half an hour before the foster family was supposed to bring her over, they called and said they were keeping her.

8. I am not a picky eater, but I generally do not like zucchini that much.

9. I hated the feel of lotion until college, and now I use it every day.

10. The book "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" is part of the reason I switched from being a business/international studies major to an anthropology/psychology major. More on that on Day 7 I suppose!

11. In July 2010 I slipped getting into the shower and hit my left shin on the tub. I still have a lump and bruise there.

12. I mentioned this in one of my very first blog posts, but we are planning on naming our first baby boy Apollo. :)

13. I don't get how people drink sweet tea as is. Way too sweet!

14. I have Osgood-Schlatter Disease. Didn't grow out of it, unfortunately.

15. I think baseball and golf are the worst.

S.

Thursday Thoughts (11)

{one} Kitties have caught a bit of a cold. Darwin started sneezing last weekend and she is pretty much better, but Hux started sneezing a day or two ago so he's got the bug now. Kyle had to convince me that it was probably just a cold and that they didn't need to go to the vet, and I figured as they were eating and drinking and OK otherwise, that he was probably right. They've been spending the large part of the day napping; the heat and cold has made them a little understandably sluggish. They are also cats. I'm keeping an eye on them, though. 

{two} I finally found out I got my internship that I interviewed for almost a month ago! I will be at the Cedar Crest Hospital and Residential Treatment Center for my whole first year of grad school. I'm really excited! It is a mental and behavioral health center, and it is about 10-15 minutes away as opposed to the 30-40 minute drive to Waco, so it will be nice to have a shorter drive a couple days a week!

{three} My sister got us a slow cooker, and I love it! I've made two meals with it so far, and both have been really good. Both have been chicken dishes, and the chicken cooks so nicely in there! I think the cooker will be very handy once school starts for me.

 chicken, corn, black beans, salsa, hot sauce served on rice with green onion (and sour cream for husband)

honey sesame chicken (minus sesame as we couldn't find any)

{four} Kyle is having a leather (motorcycle) jacket custom made for me from Mexico, and they sent us pictures of the vinyl mock-up a couple weeks ago! Here's what they made from what Kyle told them; it will be a brown leather, and we're adding/changing a couple things, but it's looking pretty good!

{five} New planner on the way! Without the strangers' names on it though. I love me some organizing and a good planner for the upcoming school year!

{six} So, I was baking cookies, and while taking them out of the oven I got real close to the open oven door, and burned my arm. Ouch. What a weird place for a weird two-part burn. Maybe I should buy a second oven mitt. And be less of a spazz in the kitchen.

{seven} Ohhh this makes me laugh every time I see it. We love Liam Neeson in this house. Call Me Maybe? Not so much.

{eight} Sar is hosting a 15 Day Challenge, and Lin has a Summertime Swap coming up! Check them out!

{nine} There may have been other thoughts, but then a preview of our wedding photos was posted, and all other thoughts were lost. :)

S.

Thursday Thoughts (10)

{one} I was cleaning the stove yesterday and the cats were not helping out.

{two} I just want it to be next week already. I'm all anxious and haven't been sleeping well this week because I want to just be doing wedding things, but I don't have much more I can do from here. I finally got started on my vows, though! It's more of a letter I guess. I'm not sure how these things are supposed to go so I just started writing. I do what I want! I was writing mine on my notepad that friends gave me after I got married (which inspired this blog title), and they also got some for Kyle, but I think stationary with wedding moose is not most appealing to an Army man, but I suggested he write his on his notepad, because that would be super cute to have our vows on our matching married paper. Dork.

I've filled the front and back of my page so far!

{three} I feel so bad about leaving the cats while we go up to PA for the wedding. Even though they are staying at a nice pet resort. I hope they still love me. :(

{four} When Kyle and I moved here, we could not find ice cube trays, so we had to order them from Amazon. Dumb, right? We were in Wal Mart the other day and came upon an endless supply of ice cube trays for the Everyday Low Price of $1.93. Sigh. People use ice in the winter, too! It's Texas, it doesn't ever get that cold!

{five} I am recently in love with these little Finnish birds by Sanna Annukka . They are sielulintu which means "soul bird," believed to protect a person's vulnerable soul when they are asleep and dreaming. It is a symbol of good luck, happiness, and protection. I kind of have a thing for Finnish birds. I was given a cool bird necklace by one of my host families, and when talking about potential tattoo ideas for me, Kyle and I have tossed around the idea. I certainly would love one of these wooden birds for my home, and possibly as tattoo inspiration...ja minä rakastan Suomi paljon.

{six} Whaddaya think of the new header and button, made by the lovely Joelle? It's just what I wanted- something simple but that would add a little fun to the page. Thanks Joelle! If anyone wants to swap buttons, let me know! :)

{seven} Kyle doesn't much like texting, so it should say something about how much we love Liam Neeson that I received this text this morning.

{eight} Wedding is a week from tomorrow. eeeeeeeeeeeeee so excited. Accuweather forecast for the 15th in State College used to show scattered rain, and today it says 78 and bright sunshine. So we will see. I think my ideal (keeping in mind it is summer, because my ideal would be fall and cool weather) would be 70 and sunny, but I think, no I know, I'd even take some rain over blistering heat and humidity. I hate it that much, and umbrellas can be so cute in pictures. I played the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz as a child, I do not want to relive the "I'm melting!!" scene on my wedding day. Also I wouldn't want my skin to be green.

{nine} Bloggy friends- anybody interested in doing a (probably wedding related) guest post/feature next week while I am in the midst of wedding week? Kendall will be telling us all about her May 20th wedding, and I'd love to hear about your wedding experiences too!

-Mrs. M

Thursday Thoughts (9)

{one} Kitty pics. They knocked over my laundry one night and I found D camped out inside in the morning. So um here is a shot of my laundry is what I'm saying.

and Hux man in the morning

{two} I started a new Bob Harper workout. I love Bob; I like his videos so I got a new one for just $5 and it's a good, intense hour. I have to modify some of the things- push ups and such since I had surgery on my left wrist (years of PT, pain, cast, etc, etc story for another day) and I definitely do not trust it, but I know a lot of moves now so I don't have to stop and think about it.

{three} I am not really a music person. I mean, I played several instruments up through high school, marching band, theater, choir, I have some favorite artists. But I don't continually listen to music; I rarely do I'd say. I just have phases where I cant get enough, and then silence. ANYWAY POINT IS I've been in an extended mild music phase due to wedding planning and picking songs/artists to request. And I downloaded the new John Mayer CD last night, so that is happening on repeat for a while. I think his music is just perfect for certain times in your life, and at those times nothing has ever sounded so lovely. Also, perfect timing, I think I've found our first dance song, if husband approves! Short, sweet and simple. I don't need to be awkwardly dancing up there with everyone staring at us for more than a couple minutes. :)

via

{four} Well this made me laugh.

{five} So we had a movie on Netflix that was not at our nearest shipping facility, so they sent the next one in our queue while they sent the other one from further away. So we watched and returned the first one, and the far away one came the next day in the mail, and they're sending us the next one in queue since we returned the other one. I wonder how long this will last. I think not long. 

{six} I had an interview/meeting for a potential field internship for my whole first year at Baylor. I would love to intern there, and the meeting went well (he said "next time you come back I'll give you a tour of the place"), so fingers crossed!

{seven} Sometimes Huxley likes to sit on Kyle's keyboard. The kitties used to do this a lot when they were younger/littler, plop right down on my keyboard while I was at the computer. I guess Hux typed out a little message haha. What a poet. 

{eight} I don't feel like cooking dinner tonight. 

{nine} WEDDING SO SOON AHHH! :-D

{ten} June is tomorrow! I get my cute and handy monthly desktop calendar from Rebekka at Dear Friend, and you can too! 

Linking up with Sar!

S. 

Thursday Thoughts (8)

{one} Kitties. Huxley was sleeping on Kyle's backpack that he takes when he's on the motorcycle. Huxley also slept on Kyle's laptop that day. I guess he missed him.

watching the world through the window

{two} Don't these look delicious? Riesling strawberry slushie. We should probably make some this summer. I've already got the straws...

{three} On Tuesday I randomly decided to actually make an effort at drinking that 8 glasses of water they say you're supposed to drink every day. On a normal day I maybe drink, 2? Tuesday went well. Yesterday I had a bad migraine and felt nauseous until about 4 or 5 in the evening, which I thought was really dumb the day after I was about as hydrated as I've ever been, but I managed 4 glasses. I've had 6 so far today, slight headache. I have to add a little lemon or lime juice sometimes because it gets pretty darn boring chugging water all day.

{four} Getting a new header and button design from Joelle! I'm excited to see what she comes up with! I need my header to be pretty simple and not too personalized, or else I feel the need to change it all the time. I want something that is nice, clean, and fun, and I'm sure she will make it happen!

{five} The upcoming Great Gatsby movie... looks pretty cool.

via

{six} Kyle has a four day weekend for the holiday! We were thinking of going to Sea World in San Antonio, but it will probably be crazy busy, and I don't like people that much. (said the social work student...hahahoho)

{seven} My biology class is over in a few days. The last week is just a group project. I volunteered to put it all together in a powerpoint, because I like making powerpoints and don't trust other people to make them nice, so I don't mind the extra work, so long as they all have their parts to me by Saturday as agreed. This online class has been...super easy and mostly boring, but oh well. Last time I will say that about any class for a while, I imagine!

{eight} Today I am very very excited and looking forward to wedding week! I can't wait to get into the farm and start setting everything up. I've got all this stuff in boxes and packaging and I want to see it out and unwrapped! Also I will be seeing so many people so soon, some I haven't seen in a couple years, some in five years, some in ten years- not since I moved from California to PA!

{nine} My good friend from high school, Kendall, got married last weekend! What a beautiful shot! I can't wait to hear about her wedding when I'm back up in PA for ours (we're having ours at the same location, too!) Congrats to Mr. and Mrs. Feather! :) Kendall wrote a guest post about her flowers, you can find here.

Paper Heart Photography

{ten} Whale bookends. That's all.

S.