So here's how it came out:

Classic White Bread

Rating: 3 out of 5

It ended up being too heavy and kind of tasteless. I realize that white bread isn't supposed to be super sweet or anything, but it was a little disappointing. I just had this memory of coming home on a rainy day to the smell of soft, warm, fresh bread. The kind that just needs a little butter and melts in your mouth. How did Mom do that?

Good thing perfection is not my goal.

Next attempt:

garlic bread

or maybe cinnamon bread.

I can't decide.

This starts the adventures of one of my largest Christmas presents:

a bread maker

Well, actually, this machine's adventure started quite a while ago with my deal-finding mother-in-law. And it continued through the never-land of lost airline baggage. Let's just say this thing is a world traveller. But that's another story.

This is the story of me vs. bread machine.

Chapter 1:

After looking through my new bread cookbook, Ryan couldn't possibly wait another day to try it out. So at approximately 8:25 PM, I opened up to the first recipe and started carefully measuring. Now you should understand how difficult it was for me to do this, that is, the carefully part. I'm a throw-it-all-in-with-my-eyes-half-shut kinda baker (Probably why baking has never been a successful hobby for me in the past).

Now I am waiting... patiently.

Still waiting...

Okay, so I'm not so patient. Never have been.

The timer says 2 hours and 32 minutes. The viewing window is all fogged over and covered with flour, so I haven't seen any progress. You have no idea how much its killing me to not lift up the lid and poke at it.

At this rate it's going to be done at 12:28 tonight. Ryan and I will be making our third trip to the airport this week at around midnight to pick up some friends who were about at lost in the airports as my suitcase was this week. So don't worry, I will definitely be awake when this bread is finally done.

We'll see how it turns out...

We're done! That is, Ryan is done. All of the cramming and late nights and early mornings are over.

Well there's one more early morning left: tomorrow. The good news is that since we're flying out at 5:00am we'll miss the snow storm that is supposedly going to be hitting here midmorning (by snowstorm, of course, I mean the 1+ inches of snow that may or may not be falling).

Good thing we're headed to rainy old Oregon. The weather there never lets us down.

This week Ryan and I have been spending extra quality time together. Yep, we've been studying for tax together. super fun.

Tonight, I don't know what we're studying. But its important, clearly.

So, if you are trying to sound smart this Christmas season. Try asking some of these intriguing questions at a party:

What happens if BJR if rebutted?

Then go on and on about BOD and BOP and try to make it seem like you know what you're talking about. No one will know the difference, don't worry.

Or try

When is A liable to P?

Yeah, try to say one that out loud without giggling.

How about this one:

What is a security?

Well, a security is a security. Yes, that is the correct answer. But you have to say it in an intelligent way. Maybe put your hand up to your chin for a few seconds and tilt your head like you're deep in thought.

Ok...I'm getting in trouble for not actually listening to the answer after I ask a question. Back to the notecards.

all the way home I'll be warm...

Cleaning the house to Christmas music is so much more fun!

Well, fun might be a little too strong of a word. But it is definitely better.

Its also better because I know that I won't have to clean my house again for two more weeks.

We woke up to SNOW this morning!

Ryan didn't believe me last night when I saw snow flakes out the window. But this morning we opened the curtains and we had a fluffy little bit of white covering the ground.

It's all gone now. There wasn't even enough for the neighborhood kids to build a snowman, but it was a fun way to start the morning.

How many oceans are there?

Easy questions, right? Not as easy as I thought. Nope, its not four. There are five. Can you name them?

Pacific

Atlantic

Indian

Arctic

Southern

That's right, your fourth grade teacher taught you wrong. Well, it was correct then, but not now. I always thought that there should be a separate ocean down there, but I would have named it the Antarctic.

Well, add that to your list of "when I was a kid..." statements.

When I was a kid Pluto was a planet. Russia wasn't called Russia (Okay, it might have been, I think we just had ancient textbooks). There were only four oceans.

Its kind of sad really, I even took a geography class in college. And while I didn't pay that close of attention, I would have noticed if we had learned about a fifth ocean.

Do you know how long the Southern Ocean has been defined? Ten years. So we were all clearly a little behind.

I would have thought that my father-in-law, with his love for geography, would have filled me in on some of the details... but I had to learn the hard way: by losing a game of sporcle.

Exams are almost here! Less than a week.

But I'm ready. I have a big stack of books from the library (the public library, definitely not the law library) as well as several Christmas presents to finish. I am all ready for the late nights and early mornings (I'm so supportive). I might even help him work on his flashcards.

November. If you're going to visit, that's the month that you should book your flights. I've never had a November like this. It's going to be in the 70's this week. Be jealous. Be especially jealous if you're scooping snow this morning. I wish I had my mother's camera so I could document for you the mass of fire-orange leaves that fills up the space on the other side of my living room window. I don't ever want that tree to lose those leaves.

I've decided that some day I'm going to spend an entire year traveling around to enjoy the best weather every month. August in Oregon, November in Virginia, February in Southern California, May in Iowa. I have a few more months to fill up, because, lets face it, every place has nasty weather at some point.

Like last November, we sat here with rain pouring down on us for a whole week. We were the lucky ones because we were stuck in our dry house with power. That year was a complete opposite of this year's gorgeousness.

Ever have one of those days where you're on your way to work and you see a crew of landscapers spreading barkdust along the side of the road and you really just want to trade places with them?

Is that just me? yeah...I guess I can blame my parents for that one.

* I can't really complain about going to work, especially not today when we had fresh chocolate-dipped strawberries delivered to the office. Yum.

Cooking Legends

I have a recipe named after me. Me, the cook. And no, it's not Famous Top Ramen. It's a real recipe.

My recipe is Geron's Chicken. Actually, I'm a bit unclear if the locals are calling it Geron's chicken or Geron chicken, but I'm going to go with the former (obviously I didn't name it myself). Before I realized how well known I had become, I was just calling it that chicken stuff.

Apparently my habit of throwing everything I have into a crockpot and scooping it out directly onto my plate 6 hours later has performed well for me. Some of our fellow law students, especially one couple made of two law students, have discovered the beauty of my cooking strategies.

I am so honored to be able to live in infamy along with great legends such as Tosha Bars. Now if only there was a church cookbook that I could enter...

It rained so much today that I drove over a fully submerged speed bump.

I was going slow and saw the yellow paint, but the whole time I was saying to myself, "This can't be good for my car. This can't be good for my car."

Today would have been perfect: day-off, almost finished book, plenty of laundry to make me feel productive, pouring rain on the other side of the windows.

That is, until a certain someone turned his bright blue eyes towards me and pleaded with me to drive him to class, twice. You see, if he drives, he has to park about a block away from his building; if I drive him, he ends up about 10 feet from the front door.

I tried to give him a cost-benefit analysis. If he drives, only he gets soaking wet. If I drive, we both get wet walking from our front door to our car (and back, for me). I should have known better than to try to outsmart a lawyer.

So that brings me back to driving my car into hazardous conditions. And tromping through the small ecosystems that used to be our sidewalks. And walking into a tree branch (my head was down to keep the rain out of my face).

But now I'm back, with dry clothes and my still unfinished book.

party's over.

My first party was a success!

This weekend I threw a party to finish off our summer reading program. I was volunteered, well maybe even forced, to head up the party planning.

It was full of pizza, games, and twisty balloons. The party, not the party planning.

For once, I didn't have to station myself at the balloon area. Instead, I was running in crazy circles organizing games, talking with parents, overseeing the cake cutting, making sure no one killed anyone else.

I got a little worried when we started with about 15 people total, but the kids kept sneaking in throughout the afternoon. I think they may have even multiplied when we pulled out the balloon dogs and hats.

I have to say that I'm rather proud of myself, although I'd have to credit my success to years of following my mom through her own crazy parties. As fun as it was, I'm glad that there aren't any more parties in my near future.

Can someone please mail me a jar of homemade applesauce? I just cannot handle feeling the weather cool (even if it is just down into the 80s) and the leaves tempting to turn without the taste of fresh applesauce.

I've considered planting my own apple tree outside my apartment window, but I don't think that it will grow big enough to give me applesauce before we move.

I've been thinking about making something pumpkin (cheesecake, bread, bars) but there's one necessary step between summer and pumpkins that is missing: applesauce.

Chunky, warm applesauce straight from orchard to kitchen to mouth.

on the news

I was almost on tv today!

Okay, well I could have been on tv today, except that I decided that sleeping-in was better for my overall health and wellness.

But the point is that a tv station came to my work this morning to do a special about study skills and homework. Fortunately, one of my co-workers who is much more knowledgeable and talented (and has a tv-worthy wardrobe) stepped up to do the interview.

If I would have gone into work early this morning, I would have been able to watch the lights-camera-action. Instead I'll be watching it on the news next week. I'm okay with that. I've never had stardom in my future goals.

And like I said, sleep is clearly important. That and mopping up my bathroom floor from yesterday's plumbing disaster (I should thank my husband/plumber for keeping me sane for that one).

But you can still have my autograph if you want it. I'm practically famous.

A Taste of Oregon

This is a special guest post from the Aspiring Esquire.

Over the last few days I have become aware of the fact that my wife really really misses Oregon. So, in order to curb my wife's increasing state of homesickness, I have developed a three step plan to make today more like a day in Oregon.

Step 1: Wear my Oregon ducks shirt. I am sure there are plenty of Oregonians wearing duck colors today.

Step 2: Discover that Geron's favorite take n bake pizza place (you know that one that started in Oregon) has now opened in VB, the first one in the state. In fact they had their grand opening this weekend. So I went ahead a bought a five meat stuffed pizza. Sounds good huh.

Step 3: Watch Oregon State play football on espn. Okay I have to admit this one is more for me than for Geron.

Well, our bikes and lawn chairs spent the night in our living room last night, accompanied by several extra containers of water. But the world looks the same outside this morning, except perhaps a bit wetter and more grayish.

Okay, lets be honest, I haven't actually been outside yet today. I spent the morning on the couch, watching tv and drinking apple juice while Ryan went to class.

But I hear that there was no more than a few small branches that blew around last night, even though I heard a lot of wind blowing against my window while I was trying to sleep. While I was a little disappointed to see my alarm clock glowing this morning (I was hoping to have no power and therefore get the entire day off), we are thankful that we avoided the storm.

Only three more months of hurricane season :)

Off to buy flashlight batteries, pop tarts, and toilet paper, along with everything else I can think to eat this weekend.

We're hoping that we end up with just a windy day at home eating granola bars this Friday. But we're also prepared for the possibility of losing power for a few days or even being forced to go inland for the weekend. I don't want to think about that too much.

I'm trying not to freak out about the details of hurricane winds. It's a good thing I just received a new book in the mail to keep me distracted.

I learned today that this year there were 500 applicants for each opening in the local public schools.

I know a lot of people that can't do anything but wait and hope that they'll be one of those lucky few, even though schools are starting in two weeks.

It makes me very thankful for the job that I have, even if it's not my dream job.

It also makes me thankful that we will soon (well not that soon) be moving to a much smaller community.

Autumn weather...will come someday.

If you want to come visit me you'd better get over here quick. Today we are having the first day with cool, cloudy, breezy weather that is actually under 80 degrees since April. Now I know that Fall is not yet in sight, instead we have another long month of summer ahead.

But the weather outside today is beautiful. It makes me want to dig out my sweaters and jackets prematurely. It also gets me thinking about adding a bread maker to my Christmas list. mmm. Warm, soft bread, fresh cinnamon rolls, breadsticks. I need one.

I love Fall. I need to move somewhere where it comes when I'm ready for it. Not just after 6 months of humid summertime.

Today is Ryan's first day of the new school year. Yes, it's Saturday, but we've already established that everyone going to law school is crazy. I've stopped asking questions about the specifics.

That leaves me, with the first Saturday in a while at home, to relax with a bowl of golden grahams, a little apple juice and an extra large, extra comfy Packers sweatshirt.

Unfortunately, my peace has been interrupted by a rowdy maintenance crew working on the empty apartment next door as well as the strong fishy smell from last night's dinner that forced me to turn on our over-zealous dishwasher (for those of you who have visited us, you know how ridiculously loud that thing is).

At this point all that is left for me to do is to take advantage of the cool 88 degree weather of this morning and use those muscles that I used to have back when I did more than sit all day. Or I could just climb back into my soft bed and pull out a book. hmm, tough choice.

I'll get back to you about that...

Dutch words.

With only one week until classes start, we have been scrambling to fit in all the fun summer activities that we can. While we haven't been climbing mountaintops, we have been welcoming back many of our friends who had spent the summer elsewhere.

Yesterday, we also welcomed a new law student who was a fellow college classmate, now a fellow alum, I guess, and who grew up just a few blocks from my cousins down in Iowa. She has made the trek out to the Atlantic, leaving behind all that is familiar in the midwest.

Ryan and I enjoyed the chance to talk about college and home (for him anyways) with someone with a delightful midwestern accent (I was apparently the only one who noticed the accent). I was also the only one who noticed the Dutch words that had slipped into the conversation.

After she left, I went on a mission to figure out what these foreign words actually, literally meant in English. The problem is that most people who still use these words have forgotten (or never realized) that they aren't actually English words.

I have found that one easy way to figure out if a word is English or just a Dutch remnant still used in the middle of English is to ask the speaker how to spell the word. Without a doubt, they stop and think, maybe start with a few letters, but never quite figure it out. Those words are only spoken in the gaps where our great grandmothers couldn't find an English word that quite said what they wanted to say.

So I have decided to go on a search to find the spelling, as well as literal translations, for all those little words that are still used.

Today's word is "benauwd" commonly pronounced ben-out. When I heard this word in conversation yesterday, I knew that I had heard it before, whether from my grandmother or someone else, I'm not sure. But I only had a vague idea of what it actually meant. In my head, I usually translated it as "bent out" like "I'm feeling a bit bent out of shape today."

What I discovered (after a quick call to my mom, and some searching on google translator) was that benauwd means something like "stuffy, uncomfortable, stifling, and cramped." Yesterday, it was used in reference to the feeling when driving through the bridge tunnel and realizing that you are actually driving underneath the river.

For my next words, I think I'm going to have to search a little harder. Maybe even give my grandmothers a call to see how much they can remember. I'm definitely going to start integrating them into my vocabulary and conversation. Even if no one around here understands.

With some extra time on my hands this summer, I've been able to do a few of the things that have been on my list for a while. Such as refinish this jewelry box that my grandmother gave me when I was a kid.

The light colored wood just didn't go with the other furniture that I had in my bedroom. Although I think that a certain husband of mine was starting to imagine last summer's humongous painting projects when I drug him through the home department and picked up sand paper, I tried to calm him by explaining that it was only one little project and I wouldn't ask him to help.

The wood sanded down really easily and after a

few coats of dark brown paint and a some more sanding, I ended up with a brand new accessory for my room:

I even surprised myself by pulling off a slightly distressed look.

The credit for the other part of our bedroom's new look has to go entirely to Ryan. We decided to stick to traditional gifts for our first anniversary (which would be paper), and technically, artwork is made out of paper. He picked out these lovelies for above our bed:

These pictures match the rest of our bedroom perfectly, and I love the vintage feel.

It's really starting to feel like I'm finally out of college and out of the dorm room. I won't ever have to use an old cardboard box for a table or tape pictures to my bedframe! Instead I have real furniture and real decor for my home.

From the west coast to prairies, back to the Pacific, again across the Great Plains and on to the Atlantic; this beauty keeps racking up the miles.

It's a good thing our value doesn't depreciate as we age.

As for my car, it's still just as lovable...to me anyways.

A quick sidenote: I was not driving and taking pictures at the same time. I was just the one taking pictures.

Hurricane Season

We just received our first Hurricane Evacuation Guide. Complete with a list of essential items for a family survival kit, including: a whistle to signal for help, plastic sheeting and duct tape, a wrench or pliers, and a fire extinguisher.

Now I'm beginning to wonder, why didn't we get one of these booklets last year? We moved here just a few weeks less than a year ago, just in time for hurricane season.

I would not have ever thought to add even one of those items I just mentioned to a "survival kit". My survival kit would have included: matches, candles, some water, oreos, dried blueberries, peanut butter, and maybe some toilet paper. Be honest, would you have considered adding a whistle to an emergency kit? Really, a whistle?

To say the least, I would have been terribly unprepared in the event of a disaster. To add to that, I probably would have gotten lost trying to evacuate the city. The only thing I could have done was click my heels together and dream of a place without natural disasters (namely, Oregon).

However, this year, I'm prepared. I have an evacuation guide. I can follow the red lines on the full-page map to get out of town. I now know the difference between category 1 and category 5. And most importantly, I have an emergency supply kit list. Now I just have to figure out exactly what is a written family emergency plan and how to write one. And maybe I'll add a rope ladder to my list. That's got to be just as useful as a whistle, and I've always wanted to climb out of my window with one of those.

But I'll still be dreaming of Oregon.

Speaking of recovery...

Ryan and I have both recently found the place we will be residing for the next 6 hours, at least. That would be our couch, with our feet up.

This is because we can't move our legs, well more so, we can't move our legs without feeling shooting pains in our feet and calves.

It is the sufferings of the vacationers.

What kind of vacation led us to this miserable state of health? Well, only that of trekking around the city of national monuments in 110 degree weather.

**I'm sorry but there will be no pictures at this time due to the state of my general appearance after walking 4 miles in such high humidity and heat. It was not glamorous.**

However, we did have a fabulous time. We woke up early and took a siesta in the middle of the day and for the most part planned our hours according to the weather. And according to the boy scouts.

Oh, you didn't know that tens of thousands of boy scouts were invading the capitol this weekend? Neither did we. They were celebrating 100 years of, well, scouting and khaki shorts with green socks. The sheer number of adolescents was a little overwhelming. Fortunately for us, their parade was planned perfectly with our 1:00 nap.

Ryan's favorite was visiting Lincoln in his chair and arriving perfectly on time to witness the changing of the guard at the cemetery. Mine was air conditioned museums with practically every animal life size, as well as a display of each of their bones. Did you know that snakes have like a billion rib cages? I just thought they had a spinal cord thingy. And that a giant tortoise's little skeleton is so much like other animals even though they're all hidden inside the huge shell?

Unfortunately, the polish dogs that I was looking forward to buying off the street did not look nearly as appetizing as they had in my head on the air conditioned car ride up there. Something about the heat index, I think. But plain ice water was a good substitute.

This weekend was definitely the perfect way to spend our first anniversary. It's a great start to lots of future family vacations. Like this weekend, we know that everything during a vacation doesn't go perfectly (adventures, my mom calls those) but overall, we enjoyed our chance to get away and spend extra time together.

I'll be honest. I'm still recovering from the whirlwind of activity with my in-laws this last week. But its a good kind of recovery, like the kind of recovery you have after a fun day jumping around in the waves at the beach.

Actually it was probably a combination of recovering both from having 7 people in my apartment and getting crushed by waves at the beach every day for a week.

But for the record, we had a fantastic week. We swam and swam and swam in the ocean. We (well mostly Ryan's nephew) built and destroyed numerous sandcastles. We saw a pod of dolphins. We ate a lot of sand, but managed to avoid any serious sunburns.

We hung out with some early American colonists. I tried to give Ryan brain surgery, patriot soldier style (picture a rusty metal device with a sharp row of teeth: he wouldn't let me go through with it, even though I explained that this procedure had a higher survival rate on the battlefield than amputations)

And most of all ate lots of good food. And drank lots of pop, like good midwesterners. (pop pop pop: do you hear me all y'all out here east of the mississippi? it's called pop. so leave me alone.)

So you can probably imagine why we all needed a little rest after this week. I'm taking mine in the form of a 2 hour nap each day for a week. Which I'm going to do...now.

Birthday Post:

My birthday was lovely, of course. Thank you for asking.

breakfast in bed

shiny new rollerblades

a trip down the boardwalk to test them out

a dip in the ocean

saltwater up my nose and sand in my hair

a nap on the beach

add on dinner and a movie and it was a perfect birthday.

Thanks, dear. And thank you all for thinking of me.

happiness

Strawberry milkshake heaven.

It's all I'll ever need.

What can ruin a 100-degree, sunny, summer day?

A stuffed up nose and a foggy head and a sore throat.

What's the cure?

An all day nap in the air conditioning.

getting up early and going to bed early, just how summer should be.

I love love love my new summer schedule. I'm like a normal person with evenings off. I get to go to work in the morning and actually spend the evenings at home. Or playing tennis. With friends. at the beach. Barbecuing. It's amazing what a normal life can be like.

I'm very excited to tell you that I have officially converted Ryan from the land of Windows. His poor computer has had a short and tragic life thus far. I won't say anything against the company that my dear mother used to work for, but they just don't compare.

Today, Ryan's battery has given up hope. No matter how much willpower and logic Ryan puts in, the battery does nothing. All that law school hasn't done much for him yet.

My lovely little macbook is trying not gloat. But its hard. My computer is more than twice as old as his and still working smoothly. After all, things are supposed to get better with age: wine, cheese, sisters.

So while Ryan spent his afternoon talking with some tech person who knows where, trying to stop the endless problems with his laptop, I got to do . . . well, whatever I want.

He says the worst part of the whole ordeal was when the customer service person asked him why he didn't visit their online site to solve his dead computer problems instead of calling on the phone. Just think about that one for a sec.

hiring a maid.

Yes, my blog posts come in spurts. Deal with it.

I pulled out and dusted off my ipod this morning. It was a last resort in order to motivate myself to clean the toilets. (It's ridiculous how quickly summertime laziness kicks in, for some reason the more time you have to do something the harder it is to get started and do it).

Anyways, I had Phantom of the Opera songs running through my head this morning, so I decided to start there as I pulled out my cleaning supplies.

By the time I had finished the bathrooms and gotten through half of the kitchen, I was fully engrossed in the story and the music. Unfortunately, just after one of my favorite songs was ending, my ipod stopped. Then I remembered that the second cd of the sound track has been lost for quite a while and that's where my music stopped too.

Usually it doesn't bother me, but today... let's just say, I haven't gotten any more than half the kitchen clean. The music stopped and so did I.

The main reason, besides my short attention span, was that all I could think about was the last song of the musical. Its the one at the climax of the story, where all the characters sing together and I cried when I first watched it.

But no, my music stops way before that.

So I pulled out my computer and decided to just buy it online. I found all those songs in the second half of the story that I had been missing. That is, except the one that I really wanted. That one you can't buy. Who makes these kinds of decisions? And why do they want to ruin my day?

I'm tempted to call my sister and demand that she send me the dvd. Just so I can listen to that last song and get it out of my system.

Now all hope of finishing my cleaning is officially lost. As well as any hope of doing anything productive today. Good thing its summer.

Summer Bummer

I've been trying to renew life into my blog for quite a while. You may have stumbled upon a modified blog face only to find it back to its original green boringness the next time you visited. But now, I finally actually changed it. After 5 years.

Hopefully this one won't be stuck here for the next five.

In honor of summer sunsets that I can no longer watch on the beach, as well as the extended hours of outdoor daydreaming that are not paired with taking cuttings or painting buildings: my new blog.

Although summer weather started long ago (at least for those of us whose weather is not coming directly off the freezing Pacific), this week feels like the first week of summer because school is officially out. That leaves me with long mornings to sit on my deck and read through the stack of book I recently picked up at the library.

This month's summer bummer, however, is that Ryan and my schedules are completely opposite. I spend the mornings in a quiet apartment while he's at the courthouse, and he spends the afternoons and evenings at home...by himself.

The good news is that his internship is half over (I honestly don't know how that has happened so quickly), and my summer schedule will start soon, so we should be able to spend a little time together. We are planning on spending that most of that time at the beach. Because it is way too hot, and the one thing the Atlantic has going for it is lovely, warm water.

So summer can never really be a bummer, since it is, after all, summer.

I got the privilege of enjoying a 6th grade band concert this week. I'll be honest, I don't miss band concerts, although its better now that I don't have to be on the stage.

These kids that I watched were so confident, so proud. The clarinet players especially, with their puffy cheeks and frequent squeaking. (Did my clarinet squeak that much in sixth grade?) Watching them made me think of my days as seventh chair in beginning band on up through pep band.

You know, parents, you used to tell me that someday I would be glad for all that time you made me spend in pep band. I'm still waiting for that day. But I do have to say that I am thankful for my fellow clarinet player who sat next to me all those years. Jami, thank you for playing well enough to cover up my squeaking. And thank you for always taking the hard part. And for sitting closer to the front of the stage (or bleachers) so I could hide. It would not have been the same without you.

I am so glad that those days are over.

44 days until my bufday.

You know I was cute back then. Admit it. Back when I couldn’t say my R’s.

(And for the record: I did correctly pronounce the word “richer” in my vows, no matter what Ryan says. I have been grown out of that little habit for at least 15 years).

I just thought that you should all be reminded that the big day is coming. So you can be prepared.

Although, I do have to share the special day with my mom-in-law for the first time. Maybe the two of us will have to go on a special birthday outing someday, like to Paris. July 1 is pretty significant, after all.

We've been noticing quite a few starry-eyed pairs of Canadian geese taking longs walks in the evening lately. And now it seems that new families are arriving daily.

I have decided to adopt one darling little baby goose--gosling, I guess. He was so fluffy and yellow and cuddly. However, after approaching him and his doting parents, I found that Mom and Dad think that its best if I settle with being his god-mother. At least, that's what I gathered from their long pointy tongues pointing out of their beaks as they hissed at me.

Unfortunately, since so many of his cousins have arrived, its a bit difficult to differentiate my darling god-child-goose from so many other fluffy waddling creatures. But I'm sure that he'll remember me.

Its officially summertime for Ryan this week, and it feels like August outside. Now our daily activities do not include reading contracts, reviewing notecards, or making outlines, thank goodness.

Instead we are catching up on our vitamin D (and now nursing our sunburns), as well as catching up on the missed episodes or our favorite shows.

Today we drove downtown humming, "Having fun isn't hard, if you've got a library card" (Thank you PBS for instilling great values into our childhood), and came home with a stack of new books to read. Which was just in time for me, because I'm just finishing the russian philosophy book that Ryan gave me in September and he had plans of trying to get me to read another one.

And now that it is summer, everyone is officially invited to come visit us.

I have a very important question to ask.

Nearly every shirt that I own has a tiny little hole right near the bottom on the front. Sometimes its on the right or left side, sometimes its right in the middle, but always just a few inches from my waist.

I don't have a dog who jumps on me, or a cat or a child or anything that generally destroys clothing. I don't walk over my clothing with soccer cleats. The shirt I'm wearing today has two holes, right next to each other. It just makes no sense. And its rather frustrating. Its never a big enough hole to throw the whole shirt away, just enough to be annoying.

There's never a hole in the sleeve or the back or by the collar.

Am I the only one who has this problem? Or do they make special stores for people who can't take proper care of their clothes?

A new sound in our neighborhood:

Simple, high pitched tunes blasted from the speakers of the small truck which continually circles our parking loop. This is followed by the unmistakeable sounds of small flip flops and tennis shoes and skateboards and scooters and big wheels all headed down the sidewalk.

This particular ice cream truck has hit a gold mine. I wish I had thought of it myself.

You've probably heard someone laugh out loud while reading. I have a certain sister who makes this a daily habit, which I understand. Especially since she's usually reading some making-fun-of-twilight blog or a sci-fi book, of some other piece of fiction, which often is written to be humorous.

However, when was the last time you heard someone chuckle while reading a textbook. My most common reaction to textbook is to fall asleep. In fact, I've found over the years that some textbooks make good pillows--the paperback ones that is.

Now lets take this one step further. What about a law book, like contract law or torts (still not sure what that is)? Well just come on over to my house. If you sit quietly, patiently, you'll be rewarded with a little burst of a giggle in the middle of property law. Don't ask him to explain what's so funny though. It won't make any sense. I've learned to just enjoy the giggling and chuckling as they are without prying into the mind of a lawyer-to-be.

This is all connected, I promise.

First, as I was sitting here in my living room with my fan working its little heart out trying to blow in the tiny remnant of cool air that's left outside this morning, I suddenly realized that the normal chatter and yelling coming from the children on spring break had reduced to one single voice. I took a second to figure out what that child was screaming and I realized that it was "Help me!" So I instantly stood up and searched through my screen door to find out where she was and why she was screaming. This part wasn't too hard. In the middle of the sidewalk, I saw a little girl, maybe 5 or 6, sitting on a trike and yelling for all she's worth. However, there didn't seem to be a problem. She was just sitting there, yelling, "Mom, help me!" I stood watching her for a moment, trying to decide if she really was as desperate as she sounded. But sure enough after about another minute of this, she carefully and slowly climbed off her trike and peacefully walked back through her front door.

All of this made me consider that maybe sometimes the crisis that I may be facing doesn't always seem so big from the perspective of others. And sometimes it might be pretty easy to take care of myself it if I just try.

Second, I found my car covered by a layer of green dust yesterday. Thankfully, the cleanliness of my vehicle has never had a big effect on my life, but it did make me curious. The lawn had been mowed earlier in the day, so I thought it might have been from that. However, as I drove down the road I saw that nearly every car was covered in green. I was able to rein in my imagination, you know keeeping all those thoughts of nuclear waste, aliens, acid rain out of my head, but I still had the mystery of the green dust that kept accumulating on my windshield.

It turns out that its pollen, and it has plans of continuing to plaster itself all over everything for the next several weeks. goody. So far, there haven't been headaches, runny noses, itchy eyes or uncontrollable sneezing, so I'm desperately hoping that this pollen is the friendly kind.

What brings all of this together is the ridiculous heat wave that is threatening a long, hot summer. It honestly feels like August this week with the kids home from school, bees flying everywhere and windows open and fans blowing 24 hours a day (we just couldn't turn the AC on in good faith the first week of April). I'm starting to wonder if I should invest in a mini pool for my deck to keep me cool for the six-month-long August ahead.

Easter Gardens

We've had our house full the last couple weeks, which gave us a reason to explore places that we haven't had the time to visit ourselves. When we were blessed with gorgeous weather this weekend, we took our chance to visit some beautiful outdoor spaces.

I discovered my new favorite tree, the redbud. Unfortunately, I'm not the only one who loves these little purple flowers.

We also discovered an amazing climbing tree. If only I could have had this in my backyard when I was growing up. I could built a second bedroom up there.

And we enjoyed spending time with Ryan's aunt.

We're not sure if she was more excited to see us or the trees, but either way, we can be sure that she'll come back to visit us again.

But unfortunately, its back to work and back to studying for us and our visitors. After all, final exams are coming very quickly.

This morning's small tragedy:

Notice the sad little lump of purple in the bottom left hand corner. I would say this is more than a small tragedy, but I have to be realistic. Its just a single blossom from my orchid, its not a pet or even the whole plant. But you have to understand how I've been nurturing this poor thing since it began to sprout a new spike back in December. Since I had never gotten an orchid to bloom again, I was pretty excited.

Those two blossoms looked so promising and they were so close to opening up. Out of nowhere this morning one of them drops off. I don't know if I just bumped it or something is wrong. It makes me pretty nervous about the one left too. If anybody has any idea why that would happen let me know.

For now, I think I just need a little time to mourn.

Happiness =

Empty laundry baskets and clean socks, all without leaving home!

And yes, it had been a while since I washed a load of whites, we don't usually go through that many socks in one week.

The important part is that our washer and dryer are working just fine and I don't have to save up my quarters anymore! (They didn't even have to cut a whole in our wall, so the fix ended up being pretty quick and easy).

Also, while I'm posting pictures...

I know this is a little late, but this was my Valentines Day present to Ryan: (he loved it)

Isn't that romantic? Who wouldn't want a heart-shaped potato for Valentines Day?

Why don't things ever turn out as simple as you expect?

For example, this weekend I finally convinced a certain someone to take the plunge and buy a washer and dryer for me. It was supposed to go like this:

a) call the seller

b) go look at the washer and dryer

c) make use of the free local delivery from the ad

d) hook them up in our laundry room

e) do about 8 loads of laundry

f) enjoy the rest of our Saturday

As you can guess, that's not what happened.

The first three steps went pretty well, the machines looked great and all we would need was to go pick up a the little vent thing for the dryer. It was step d where we had some issues.

First of all, the cord on the dryer did not match up with the one on the wall. Apparently those who are appliance savvy would have known that there were different types of plug-ins, but I thought that only happened when you went to Europe.

Once we figured out what we would have to do for that, we decided to go ahead and at least hook up the washer. Now this part should have been easy. We had a set of hoses that were already hooked up to the faucets in the wall as well as a set that came with the machines. We went ahead and hooked up the ones from the wall, but as soon as we turned them on, they leaked all over the place. They must have been on there quite a while because not only were the seals broken but they were also rusted on.

Ryan pulled out some shiny things from his toolbox to get that rusted thing off the wall with no luck. He even went to visit our plumber neighbor for some bigger shiny things but they didn't work either. The last thing we wanted was for the whole thing to pop off and have our own waterworks show in our laundry room. That only left the option of filling out a request for the maintenance people to come and try. If they broke anything they would have to fix it themselves, right?

So no clean laundry for me today.

However, a very nice plumber has come to visit this morning. So far he has only turned off all our water and made several different trips back to "the shop" for new tools and things. Its not as easy as he thought either.

It never is.

Well I've changed my mind. Again.

I walked into a shoe store, a very very large shoe store, today. It was more of a warehouse really. As I opened the door a little sign caught my eye. It said: "Now hiring Shoe Lovers"

And I knew. This is the place for me. Shoes as far as the eye can see. Of course I was going to ask someone about the great opportunity, except that a pair of light grey flats stole my attention. And then there were some white wedges. And then some shiny black peep-toe heels.

It went on this way for quite a while. I almost gathered my attention long enough to ask about employee discounts. But then I saw these mauve colored pumps; they made me think of my mother's closet full of colored pumps from about 10 years ago. Except that they were updated enough so that I wouldn't feel like a little girl playing dress up while wearing them.

Basically the moral of this story is that I never got around to asking about working as a full-time shoe lover. Which is probably a good thing. Because I'd probably spend my entire paycheck before I even left work. But I'm still going to dream.

I had a post all ready reminiscing about my childhood dreams of being a famous ice skater. Unfortunately, that was two weeks ago. I'm not sure how it has been two weeks since I started that post and never finished it.

Unfortunately, its now its a little past the time for discussing ice dancing. Not to mention that its much, much too late for me and those dreams. I will try not to go on about how my pleas for gymnastics and ice skating lessons were ignored. I won't bring up the hours that I twirled in front of the television, while my older brother and sister told me to get out of the way so they could watch the events.

It is clear that ice skating was never the path for me. Coordination has never been one of my strong points. Not when I was five and not now.

So for now I just have to figure out which path is for me. The good news is that my opportunities for next fall are looking bright. Apparently they have to hire new teachers eventually. And I just have to hope and pray that one of them will be me.

Otherwise I'll have to go in a different direction. Maybe Swiss Chocolatier? That definitely sounds like a rewarding career.

Why didn't anyone tell me that it was going to be so cold here? I thought beach meant warm sand, sunshine, long walks. Of course, I should know better, being from Oregon. But this is the Atlantic! Aren't we close to the Caribbean or something?

This morning our back yard has turned from a light covering of powdered sugar, to cotton candy to a solid layer of fluffy icing. And the snow is still coming.

Okay, enough about snow. I'm sick of it.

This weekend I actually did make something. I found inspiration in the chip aisle and remembered my aunt Karen's specialty: peanut butter-chocolate-covered-frito stuff. I don't think that's the official name. What I do know is that I don't like fritos normally, but this recipe proves that anything can be delicious if its covered in peanut butter and chocolate. And it was delicious.

Someday I really am going to do more of this cooking thing.

Its snowing again. ugh. I thought I had moved away from all of this. Apparently not. I've been talking to lots of different people around here and some seem to think that this new weather is the worst thing that could happen to the commonwealth (state) and some (mostly kids) think that it's the best miracle possible. So what do you think? Are they going to cancel 3 more days of school this week?

So with all this white and cold, I have been spending my time dreaming about all of the wonderful super bowl snacks that I could be making this weekend. However, dreaming and doing are very different things. I have almost no motivation to actually get up and make fresh salsa or cheesecake bites or anything really. I just like looking at the pictures of the delicious things I could be eating and hope that someone brings something good tomorrow. I'm also beginning to think that I really need to move closer to one of my sisters. Maybe even next door.

Another snow day here today, although the weather was warm and everything was melting away. We had a few snowballs attack our windows this afternoon though. Our friends didn't understand why we weren't outside enjoying the fantastic event. One even said that this was the first snow he's been in since he was five years old.

Ryan explained that snow day equals sleep in, not get up early to make a snowman.

Ryan also says that I can't make fun of the people here because this is what I used to be like before I moved to Iowa. I can't deny that. I definitely had school cancelled on account of less than an inch of snow on several occasions. And I definitely got up early on those days just to try to scrape together a snowman out of a combination of snow, grass, and dirt.

But now I have learned what real snow is and that it rarely equals a good time.

All afternoon we were trying to decide if they would cancel everything again tomorrow because of the slush that is still gracing the sides of the roads. Turns out that although all the public schools around will be closed tomorrow due to inclement weather (the forecast says its going to be 42 and raining), both Ryan and I have to get back to our lives after all.

It was fun while it lasted.

We're still stuck in winter wonderland. Surprisingly very little snow is melting even though the sun is out. We are just hanging out, dreaming of spending our weekend down under in Australia watching tennis. Now we just have to decide how much we want our Sunday night pizza.

Ryan is still counting on cancelled classes for tomorrow. I have to admit that I wouldn't mind another day off either.

Snow storm of the Century II is underway here on the east coast. Just as much excitement as the one in the midwest. Just as many warnings scrolling across the bottom of the news. Just as many closures and cancellations.

The only difference is that this time we aren't in a real blizzard. We aren't even in anything close to a blizzard. It's barely below freezing and we have about two inches of snow.

However, the sidewalks had an entire layer of salt spread out yesterday afternoon almost twelve hours before the snow even started. And they are predicting full closures of schools well into next week.

After four years of tromping through feet of snow and sub-zero temps to get to classes and work, it sure feels good to have the day off because of a light snow fall.

And let me tell you the kids around here are going crazy. They are in heaven today. Even though they already had the day off.

We just wish the roads were cleared of all the snow and crazy drivers so that we could go experience Christmas on the beach.

I know its not a huge achievement or anything.

But for us its still a big deal.

Happy 6 month anniversary, darling.

I can't wait to share many, many more months (and years) with you.

My husband received the following email in his inbox today:

Subject: Photo Shoot

Thanks Ryan.

Please plan for:

Friday.

Should take a half hour.

Dress: business casual.

I'll send color suggestions and final confirmation shortly!

Thanks!

The college interviewed him to be featured for some marketing material or something like that. Now they have scheduled a photo shoot to finish off. He says it's just because "I'm awesome."

Don't you just love the part about color suggestions? They want him well coordinated I guess. I think I might just have to take the day off and tag along to watch. I know my mom will be jealous.

I finished the laundry, made dinner, AND baked banana bread after work today.

Wow. I'd better be careful or somebody might get the wrong idea about who he married.

Messages from above (or maybe from below)

This is a special guest post by the aspiring esquire.

Sometimes in life we receive friendly little reminders that something bad is about to happen if you don't act soon. For example, a computer flashing 5% battery remaining, emails reminding you that a bill is due, or the ding of the oven timer.

Today as I was driving down the road a similar occurrence happened when I heard the following message over the radio. "Today would be a terrible day to have your car battery die, so come into any of the over 2000 locations across the country where you can get a free battery test, and purchase an interstate battery to replace your old battery."

Well, unfortunately for me I received this message a few hours too late. Because today as I was getting in the car on my way home from my last class, I was welcomed by a unpleasant clicking sound, soon followed by no sound at all. Yes, it was a dead battery. Fortunately, I was able to call one of my friends and "jumping" the car seemed to do the trick. But if there was a trick involved it was definitely on me, because after driving the car around for a while (to let the dead battery recharge) I parked the car, and then to make sure everything was still okay I turned the car off and tried to turn in back on. Again the sound of silence, the battery died a second time. Obviously I was dealing with a larger problem that I had originally anticipated.

Fortunately, one of my friends allowed me to borrow his car in exchange for bringing him to the airport. It was on my way back from the airport in his car, that I heard the aforementioned commercial. As you can imagine my reaction to the commercial was not exactly gratitude. It felt as if a power higher than myself was deliberately mocking me.

Despite this direct humiliation, I was able to start the car again a few hours later and drove it to an auto store to get the battery checked. With the help of my friend Sonny (yes that is his real name) who came with me to the store, we got the battery out. Tested the battery finding out it was indeed dead, and bought a new one. Ten minutes and a hundred dollars later, the new battery was in the car and everything was working (Yes two law students could indeed put a new battery in a car so please save the jokes), just in time to go pick Geron up from work too.

After almost two weeks of bright snow, cold wind and lots of card games, we're back to our very quiet apartment. We are happy to be home again, but I've found myself often turning on music to fill up space. I was starting to get used to all of the cousins and nieces and nephews with their constant activity. Now we are definitely missing everyone. And, I'll be honest, we're definitely missing all of that good food.

Unfortunately, vacation is officially over. Ryan's happy to get back to normal classes again. The second round of exams is way too far away to worry about now. (He did fantastic on all his exams last semester, by the way--he never had any reason to worry).

We're both excited for a new year, hopefully this one won't be quite as eventful as last year. We're still looking towards lots of changes, though. Good ones hopefully. And starting to count down the days till summer. But you probably know that I'm basically always counting down the days till summer, especially in January.