my random musings . . .

homebody

2012-02-11T14:07:00.001-07:00

i have come to grips with my new personality. i am officially a homebody. i love being home. i love working on my little projects. i love creating things for my little home. i texted miss chalk this morning to get her beef stew recipe, and realized just how much i have "changed."

when i lived with miss, over 10 years ago, i wasn't into cooking. i wasn't into being domestic. i was into lots of people in my life. lots of conversations. miss and i have often joked about one day, i came home and she asked where i had been. i had been on byu campus for 6 hours and went from person to person just being and talking with people. i came home happy and thrilled.

maybe i have done a 180 in my life. or maybe, like the story of the currant bush, that part of my personality is being cut back to enhance and develop a different part of my heart and soul. or maybe i am just having a mid-life personality change! i am hoping and assuming the first.

here are a few of the projects . . .

i wanted some books to be the art work for above my bed. dad and i made this when they were here in october. i couldn't figure out what to do with the pages. brian was over one night so that i could do a little show and tell, and we started curling the pages into the middle, and it kept the other pages flat - which was the goal.

i am spending the day quilting and sewing. last night i realized that i wanted a little personal folding table like one my mom and dad have. i went to costco first things this morning to find one (because ALL things of value are found at costco!). tragically they didn't have any. but there was a great guy who tried to help me find one. i went to traget for returns and thought i might as well try target. and blessedness, they had one! so here is my new sewing/quilting station! ironing board -- cutting board --bed for fabric holding -- and then the sewing machine is on the wall to the right of me/the picture.

i feel like i am "growing up" and eating different foods that i have for a long time. my friend and i went to the symphony the other night and had thai food before. yum!

and we made cookies and homemade chocolate sauce. yum again!

when jess was here, we rearranged my furniture and moved the orange table to the wall that you see as you walk into the apartment and the bookshelf to the wall with my 2nd door.
at first i was worried if i would really like it, but i love it!!

this is the chalkboard contact paper i got. it's in the kitchen across from the sink/cupboards, etc. it's pretty fun to have people leave notes and messages.

on my last trip to the milford, new hampshire antique store, i saw a stack of a bunch of vintage dish cloths, and handkerchiefs. i thought it would be so cute to create kitchen curtains with them. as i looked through them, i realized that mom had a bunch of dish cloths. when i was home for Christmas, mom and i went through her hope chest and found these that she had stitched on when she was a teenager. it is a little piece of home in my home!

my little valentine's day display :) i got little valentine's at pottery barn kids when i bought my new off-white rug. and the cute place mats. the goal was to have cute red and pink candy in the blue bowl, but i knew i would just want to eat it if i had it. so . . . it's empty.

the moved bookshelf :)

more to do and more to come! but next weekend is president's day, so maybe more adventures. here are some pictures from last weekend's adventures in nyc with brian (we went to his parents' home in new jersey to help reorganize and decorate. too bad we didn't take pictures of what we did! but we got some good playing in the city time.

dallas took us on a tour of brooklyn. we went to some beautiful spots including the greensburg cemetery. here there is a statute of Knowledge that is positioned so that she is waving to the Statue of Liberty! it's to represent that Liberty and Knowledge are sisters, but that France and US are sister nations as well.

one of the highlights was seeing em and dox and meeting TJ. i always love being with dall. AND he took us to his favorite four & twenty blackbirds. yum yum yum again!

february resolution

2012-01-25T19:35:00.000-07:00

is it too late to have a new year's resolution??

because i have decided that if i am going to have a blog, i darn well better use it and figure out why i have one.

i love miss chalk's blog because she shares great gems and moments. i love my sister's blogs because i want to know what is happening in their world and it is a window into moments of their lives so far away. i was being really good at doing the same for them, but my posts seem to be thoughts and pictures. and those are separate concepts. so i think the goal of my blog is to share some of the things i am thinking about, AND also share events that are happening so that i remember some of the details.

i won't stress about catching up because there is too much i feel like - Christmas in Utah, then Dallas, then Utah, and then St. John; Jesse weekend; Dallas weekend, etc. I'll just start with the Jesse weekend.

jess was in nyc for a trade show he was working for. he was supposed to fly straight back to china after, but he was asked to do makeup for a photo shoot in puerto rico and extended his trip in the states for a bit. which meant, that he was able to take the bus from nyc to BOSTON to come play with me!

it was perfectly wonderful. we ate. we watched movies (new fan of son of rambow and goodnight, and good luck). we drove to the north shore. we listened to great music. we had some good talks. i cried some tears. we rearranged some of my furniture. we took pictures. we shopped. and it was truly one of the greatest few days of my life. i am trying to figure out a way for him to move here!

pictures without the sunglasses were the goal on sunday. :)

i asked for a smile, not just a dead face :)

a port in rockport

poor guy - he only had a sweater! he was freezing!

photos for my jan/february decor of red and turqoise. someday i'll print these and display them

hmm. the self-taken pictures don't work when you had been zooming in! but let's ooh and aahh over jesse's great beard! who would have thought that it would be RED!? and soo stinking thick!

maybe we bought $50 worth of candy! okay, more like $35 because jess found me a great map. we were just like kids at the candy shop - who had money!

salem bookstore.

i think it's a great town - i'm a little worried of trying to visit during october. so this was just perfect!

goodness, it was a sister's dream come true. i wrote jess a good-bye note and said that i have spent time with some pretty great and good men. but, jesse was more aware of the little things that i appreciate than anyone i have been with. i have a funny feeling it may be because we were raised the most similarly - we are the closest in age and mom and dad most likely parented us the same.

thanks, bud. can you come again?? jessica said you were her type, so you need to come again!!

time for bed

2011-12-12T20:10:00.000-07:00

because i am so tied. i was ready for bed at 8:30 pm. is that a problem??

i am realizing that i haven't updated my blog in quick some time. so here are a few things:

as much as i LOVED Thanksgiving in nyc with em and dox, i was planning what i was going to make for dinner that sunday after the holiday, and realized that i might as well make my own mini Thanksgiving dinner. so i did! i did a turkey breast, brussell sprouts, mashed potatoes, gravy, and homemade pies, and stuffing (this and the gravy were from mixes. baby steps until everything is homemade!). the pies were a first attempt at making pies like aunt kathy's (i don't think i will ever achieve her status, but i will die trying!)

oh, the rolls were bought too. i'll have to do better next year!

i must say, it was pretty darn yummy!!

plymouth

2011-11-23T08:56:00.001-07:00

the weekend before Thanksgiving, me and the boys (CT, Brian, and Dallas), went to plymouth, massachusetts to experience the Thanksgiving parade and festivities at the famous plymouth rock. it was a very sweet weekend with some of my all time favorite people in the world.

ct is not sitting on THE rock . . . keep looking . .

i have a feeling my mom will ask why in the world i am wearing this hat! ct said i had to wear it. for some reason he thinks i need to wear hats a lot. so, to make him happy, i obliged. it's his hat. pretty cool one though!

this is THE rock!

action shots. obviously ct was very into eating the popcorn!

this was one of my favorite pictures. i loved watching and listening to the boys talk and share and interact. we made cookies this night and just chilled in the kitchen talking, eating, and talking some more. a beautiful weekend when my heart was light and at peace. thank you treasured men of my life.

random fall scenes at HBS . . my home away from home . .

my beautiful and wonderful quilt from mama snyder. this is the back of it. i am holding it up, but these are supposed to be books on bookshelves. just turn your head to the right and you will see it . .

in may, i promised brian that i would make him pillows for his new apartment. it is now november when they actually got done. here is the mess and the final products. i think it's safe to say that he was thrilled and LOVES them!

seabiscuit

2011-11-16T18:17:00.001-07:00

on sunday night, i didn't have anything going on. it was a pretty unique in that regard, bit was the dream i have had for so long - to have a chill, sweet sunday evening, after a real sunday dinner, and watching a warm fuzzy movie.

i have decided to practice my cooking skills and start making a full meal on sundays - with dessert - from scratch. so last sunday i did my first pot roast! i thought i would just put it in the crock pot. but when i called mama snyder, i learned that i should brown it and then cook it in the oven in my "dutch oven" (aka large pot that can go on the stove top and the oven). i got up at 6:45 am to brown the roast before a meeting at church. i added the potatoes and carrots and onions just like i was told.

this is a fake picture . . . this is not what mine looked like, but same general idea

when i got home at about 2:00 pm, it smelled soo good. i made a homemade apple pie (why didn't i take pictures!?!) and corn muffins to go with the roast.i found a recipe online for the apple pie and bought all the ingredients so that i could use the apples i got with mom and dad, but when i started to make it, i noticed that it needed 4 hours to refrigerate - there was cream cheese. so plan B on sunday afternoon that i could do quick was a recipe that called for vegetable oil instead of butter or crisco and you mix it in the pie pan. easy! it wasn't my favorite crust, but pretty great for how quick and easy it was.

another fake picture, but my crust looked like this minus the cinnamon. that would have been yummy.

hmm . . and things were pretty darn yummy! i was thinking of having a handful of people over, but it ended up that only one friend could come. another came by later, so i was able to share my practicing. ;)

BUT the point of this, was to comment on the movie i started after the friends left. seabiscuit.

remember this movie? i started watching it and just before the horse has an accident, i turned it off thinking that the rider, "red", looses his sight (maybe thinking of wild hearts can't be broken and blind riders on horses . . .). so i stopped watching and went to bed.

tonight i am soon going to bed, but finished watching the movie. i cried two different times. i love the beauty of the miracle. it doesn't matter what someone's breeding. it doesn't matter what they were "supposed" to be. it only matters what they are every second of every day. maybe this strikes me so much for two reasons:

i spoke at a mini "efy" day this past weekend. i love looking into the faces of the youth and seeing who they are. seeing the joy and hope in their eyes. i don't know what they are like in "real" life. i just know what they are hoping and wanting right then.
i am realizing that i am getting to know myself on a new level. i spend most of my time alone. in my head working and going through things that only i am aware of - the masses of emails and "conversations" happening that no one else in my real world will ever know about. it's so different from teaching where everyone knows pretty much everything that i am doing. and then because i am so mentally spent most days, i have a hard time spending time with others, i am just too tried. consequently, i am learning more about myself and am more aware of why i am doing things and when i am not the person i want to be. today was i ornery and frustrated with so many people for various things - making what i felt were gross noises (coughing/nose/etc. without a cold . . you know??), not being friendly enough when i helped them, talking bad about people i value, etc. but i don't want to be that person. i want to keep trying and keep giving - just like seabiscuit and his rider. i can keep going. i can keep working on getting the additional good, good things into my life.

and my favorite part, is that seabiscuit is real. this is a picture of seabiscuit and charles howard (the owner). i think this man must have been a great man and a very caring one.

some of my friends have decided that november was going to be their "simplicty" month. it is a time to get back to the core desires and practicing better ways to do and be who they really are. i am learning what my simplicity looks like and it's the basics - good, healthy food; good, restful sleep; good, happy exercise. here's hoping i can get the balance down sooner than later!

ps here are a few pics of the latest happenings:

dinner 2 weeks ago. the menu: maple glazed salmon, herb rice, green beans in peanut oil

ct and i headed to the matt kearney concert. sooo incredible. we loved what the lights were doing behind us!

ward dinner hosted by the welcoming committee (my calling - good practice for my dream job of wal-mart greeter). it was soups and desserts. it was the day before halloween and mom and dad were there to help!!

good helpers . . .

my beautiful home away from home . . morgan hall on the harvard business school campus.

me and my girlies - we were matching! and they were wearing their "conservative" outfits for mama and papa snyder :)

me and dad at my desk

me and mom at my desk (side note, the frames in the back have come down - whole story there to tell someday)

ward service project to help carve pumpkins for an fund raising event

these guys were not being very helpful in me capturing their work!

a few of my creations . . . all free-hand if you couldn't tell!

the end! plymouth rock is this weekend's adventure - pictures to come soon!

mom and dad!

2011-11-07T20:56:00.000-07:00

mom and dad came to visit last weekend!!

i can't tell you how excited i was to have them, and it was everything i hoped for and more.

i love that my family are my bestest friends. i recognize that this is unique and that this isn't the case for everyone in the world. i am learning more and more about how conscious my parents were in raising us and creating a family that wants to be together. thus, it was a sweet and precious treat to get to be with them.

i love that they are both doers and wanted to help me do my life.

so we had fun, but got lots accomplished: apple picking, sleeping in, in charge of a ward lunch, stake conference, and many projects!

yes, start coveting . . . mama made the quilt on my wall!!!! it is sooo beautiful!!! and the little crate on the floor is from my all time favorite Red Apple Farm

*** RED APPLE FARM insert ***

can you tell how much i LOVE it?!?! :)

Back to the projects: decor in the bathroom. some of you may recognize this amazing piece of work - it's from melissa's BFA show. i have three of them, but decided that one was needed here. i've got the others in a safe place.

mom thought i should put family pictures up. what an NOVEL idea!! i have another frame that i got today, to put in the left top corner so that it is finished off, but it just makes me sooo stinking happy!! (as does my wooden ironing board. i use it all the time and so i knew i would want one that was part of the decor. and i must say, it's pretty wonderful.

then, i have been trying and trying to figure out the best thing above my bed. with my picture of Christ on the side wall, it needed to be something simple, but that still spoke to my heart. blessed anthropology created the inspiration! mom and i were in there while dad was checking out new sunday shoes. we saw books on the wall with their pages curled into the binding (you know like what we would do when bored and teachers got so mad!?). i was soo excited! we decided to tack the old books i had bought at an antique store onto a board and then hang the board. it worked PERFECTLY!! i need to get a ribbon and make the pages lay flat, but it makes me happy to just think about it. and the books seem to represent me: a Louisa May Alcott, a children's book, a cook book (trying to be this), and a russian book. funny. although i don't do the russian thing, i realize more and more just how my mission and specific things that happened have completely shaped me.

although i painted this filing cabinet after mom and dad left, they inspired it and i did it just days after they left, so i think it still counts!

from pinterest, i saw an idea of hanging stitcheries in the hoops. but then i realized i could just hang fabric - that matches my fall quilt on my bed. when i was telling mom about it, she thought it would be brilliant to turn them into little bulletin boards!!! so she brought some thin batting and we did it - oh, SHE did it! at first i didn't want the edges trimmed around the hoops, but they look fun and like ornaments.

for an adventure this last weekend, i went to my favorite Robin's Egg in Milford, New Hampshire. it is always a dream to go. and i found this empty frame that i am going to move the hoops to be inside of.

AND .. . THE QUILT!!!!

Dad was soo good and helped hang it perfectly - Oh, i need to take pictures of the storage space dad and i organized too! but let's talk about how perfect this quilt is for me?!?! i love everything about it. i love that the colors are me - but a bit of a stretch from what i would normally do. i love the chevron pattern. but most importantly, i love that this is a very real hug from mom and dad every time i look at it. and if you notice, it is across from my couch, so i see it ALL THE TIME!!

have i mentioned that i LOVE my parents and i LOVE my home?!?! i soo do!

when i downloaded the pictures of my place, i realized that i have a BUNCH of others to update. goodness. so much to do, so little time.

one thing that i am excited about, is a blog i started about my gospel thoughts. it is a stream of consciousness - makes no sense - spot for me to just record and figure out some of my thoughts. if there is anything good, i'll let you know (i love that i write this to my alpine moms. funny.)

working from home

2011-10-26T14:19:00.000-06:00

YUP, i am. working from home today!

all fall i have been wanting a day to work from home in my sweats and b-ball hat. and this morning, i decided that today was that day! i brought home a lot of work to try to work last night. i left work at about 2:30 pm yesterday to run an errand for clay and christine. but traffic was so crazy that it took my until 6 to get home. so, didn't do much work last night. thus, perfect reason why i needed to stay home and work.

and let me tell you, i am doing lots! just look at all the things i am literally checking off my list - or tossing from my piles!

and just because they made me laugh . . . my niece and nephew and i playing with photobooth a few months ago. i got to do i chat with them this morning and i am soo excited to see them at Christmas!! you can watch as tillie slowly gets the fun of what we were doing . . . her and cal's smiles are precious and priceless!!

thank you miss chalk

2011-10-12T06:03:00.001-06:00

if you don't know how much i love miss chalk, you probably don't know me very well. so many thing i love about life have been introduced to me by dear miss. wow. as i write that, i am realizing just how very very true this is. gospel pondering and insights, musicals, nyc, baking, singing in the car, dancing in the car, zigs (okay that one we shared), birthday surprises at the door, being okay to be domestic, wow . . . soo many things.

i knew that this friendship was going to be seriously life changing when we were on a plane to somewhere the summer of '98. either new york, or san antonio, or who knows. but i think eric hansen was listening to the kids radio station via the airplane radio. i am sure he was making fun of songs. miss and i started listening and we both knew the songs! then we started into reminiscing about disney movies we loved . . . when she knew and loved Polly (the black Pollyanan) and Parent Trap III: Hawaiian Honeymoon , i knew we were friends for life.

because miss is the queen of musicals (and hosts a Tony award party every year), she knows what is going to be showing in new york probably before most of the theaters do! last year, miss let me know that Newsies would be coming to town. talk about joys of joys!! i was so excited! i feel like i know this movie as well as i know legacy (kelley platt larsen .. . .can you still quote it??)

thanks to miss' info, i decided that i was going to see it. period. i have missed a number of things i have wanted to do out here, and i have decided that i owe it to myself to truly commit to do these things - i missed the ingrid michaelson concert and sara bareilles concerts this year. grr.

so saturday, leah and a new friend melanie and i headed to new jersey to see Newsies!! it closes in nyc this week, but i am positive that it will go to broadway . . it was AMAZING!!! miss would have died laughing at me and i was singing along, and perma-grin the entire time. she laughs at me because sometimes i forget that what i am watching isn't reality. i am so into the show and then so sad when it ends. there were new songs and a few changes, but not disappointing changes. they honestly made things just as good, if not better. IT WAS INCREDIBLE!!!! my favorite part is that Clay's PR guy also went because his grown daughters LOVED the movie and the songs growing up. it made me so happy. :)

added bonus was that leah and melanie were so good and we went to visit em and dox after the show!!! we walked across the brooklyn bridge, got pizza, and rice pudding, and then headed back to boston. it was a quick, quick trip, but i am sooooo glad i went. it was wonderful. AND i decided that i need em and dox a whole lot more . . . so here come more road trips.

finally, it's fall

2011-10-01T12:34:00.000-06:00

i am excited and thrilled and at peace and just plain full of joy that today is october 1st. i love fall with every ounce of my heart. and today is general conference. i have been looking forward to enjoying conference at my new house on my own. i don't think i have ever watched conference by myself. and it has already been a sweet experience. tomorrow i will head up to vermont to watch sunday sessions with some friends in sharon - joseph smith's birthplace. i am pretty excited about that too.

but today is my perfect fall day. is is over cast, and rained yesterday, but no raining yet. the leaves have started changing and it's not cold, but chilly. all of these things equal pure happiness to me.

so to celebrate, i went to my beloved wilson farms! this one place exemplifies why i love new england. it is beautiful beyond beautiful. and sweet. and communal. and makes me smile inside and out.

i know that becca will be disappointed that i am not going to explain all of these, but i just took and took pictures so that the fam could get a feel about the magic of wilson's farms.

every saturday and sunday of october, from 10 am - 5 pm, they sell caramel apples and apple cider doughnuts that they make right there, outside. heaven. simply heaven.

i have got to figure out how to post the right direction, but these are my purchases from the garden section. i went back to get bread, yummy cheese, chocolate milk, and then went back a third time because i forgot to grab their home made apple cider.

one magical part of new england is that there are soo many different types of pumpkins!! "fairy tale" styles, italian syles, pink moon . . etc. i LOVE that they write the names on wood in paint . . . soo stinkin happy . .

their produce is gorgeous as well. i wish i cooked more and loved to cook more . . .well maybe i'm glad i don't . . i would spend sooo much money here!

wilson's always has a section - outside - with greenery items. these obviously aren't so green, but just as stunning. i want to have a house full of all of these. and at Christmas, it's just as wonderful with all the boughs of real greenery . . .

more caramel apple info . . . preparing for the masses . . .

oh stunning, right!?

and this is the beloved sight when you drive in. this year, they made a WALL of pumpkins!! and i had to get a close up of this sweet couple . . . they made me happy!

sorry to make you jealous that you don't live here! i truly live a dream.

i also pulled out my fall quilt and pillows that i made at home over Christmas. they are perfect with the pumpkins i got to decorate in my little house. but i need to make some large pillow cases for a few other pillows, then i'll take pictures.

now i'm off to make . . .

. . . cookies and my mama's apple cake (with caramel sauce) to take to vermont.

happy fall!!

in love

2011-09-29T14:23:00.000-06:00

every once in a while, i come across and item that it truly beautiful and makes me very happy.

and these are one such item. i wear them often so that i can train my feet to feel extremely happy in them. they don't quite love being in these shoes for long periods of time, or long walks. but i do feel beautiful in them, so baby steps. literally.

ps maybe this is the trick to becoming better at bloggin . . . little random thoughts along the way . . . not just massive dumpings of events.

not so good

2011-09-27T18:39:00.000-06:00

ya know the moments that you realize and i guess admit part of your personality that you don't want to admit? like how much i really just want to eat homemade baked goods and that i never should eat store bought ones because they aren't good? or don't like reading non-fiction - no matter how much i want to be someone that does, i'm not. or how i like order, but not strictly.

cheese . . . sorry the pics are backwards in time . . . but becc, i wrote about them just for you (she doesn't love that i just dump pictures and don't explain . . . i'm trying)

buchart gardens . . . so beautiful

the christensen family karaoke night was amazing thanks in part to michael's enthusiastic singing/performing

what we thought would be the highlight . . .was a bit of a disappointment . . . our burly loggers weren't so burly!

oh how we loved playing with "baby clay" on the train - and every other minute we could!!

yeee haa!!

one of the many glaciers. it's so thick and the ice is blue in many places . . . not white!

bundling up at taku lodge. the salmon fest was divine. clay's jacket is the "jordan river yacht club" LOVE it! :)

this was out little float plane!

gorgeous!

gotta love the few of quaint towns from the float plane!

i think becc and i are getting good at this pose

walking aboard . . so surreal

lunch our first few moments of the cruise!

moral of the story, i have admitted that i am not good at this blogging thing. and although i mostly update it so that my family can see what my life looks like in this world of mine. and especially since i got back from alaska . . . did you even know i went? nope - because i haven't written ANYTHING!

it was a fabulously relaxing and dream week.

and when i got back, my first semester helping at HBS (harvard business school) began. oh goodness, gracious . . . life is crazier than before. i spend the vast majority of my time here on campus. every once in a while, i head home to sleep, eat, and figure out what to wear for the next day. thank goodness i think that my boss is one if, if not THE most wonderful boss (well, does my dad count??) . . . okay now that i think about, i have had the most remarkable bosses . . . mr. parkes and geneva, sister beck, jamie nichol, clay. wow. "i must have done something good" to get to be with such people.

33 years old

2011-08-07T19:30:00.000-06:00

craziness.

i can't believe that i am 33 years old. it's crazy to think about where i was just a few years ago. physically and emotionally. i was in a good, and happy place. but boston wasn't even on my radar. it blows my mind just how much life can change.

and the way i celebrated my birthday was almost completely opposite:

30 years of friendship = party with everyone i could think of
33 years of moments/friendships = a day by myself (i had a number of dear friends who invited me to do things, or to have a party, but i chose to do my own thing!)

but the girls at work made it a beautiful day, as did my family, and leah!

this is an honorary team member - chris. we love him. and he loves our treats! :)

gorgeous flowers from my mama and dad!!

beautiful flowers from leah!!

the balloons, the homemade cookies, the homemade chocolates, the flowers = loved it!

the official team 140 (that's the number of our little cubicle/office)

house updates:

dear friends helped put some things together for me last weekend. and this weekend, ben ure was here looking for jobs, places to live, etc. it was fabulously fun. and then he helped put together a chair and hang a real curtain rod in the living room (the spring rod one was sagging. talk about ghetto!)

and don't remember if i already posted this. and the girls might punch me. but lizzy did our toenails while we were all together. and i just thought they were soo fun! including miss tillie mae's!!

new layout

2011-07-31T18:41:00.000-06:00

i want this chair!

2011-07-31T12:08:00.000-06:00

but i want it in a different fabric. like the one I found at jordan's furniture a few weeks ago. it's from the rowe and there is a collection by robin bruce . gorgeous!

in order to get over becca leaving me a few saturday's ago, i went furniture shopping. more like furniture gazing. i went south to ikea to get this secretary and hutch (which my most amazing friends helped me set up yesterday!!). i also went to jordan's furniture and fell in love with this chair. it was comfortable and classy and tall and a stunning statement. it's a mere $1000, so i may be saving for quite some time.

i looked through a bunch of fabrics that i was in love with . . here are just a few . . .

someday. someday.

while i am sharing the beautiful chairs, can i share my love and complete affair i have having with the website - Pinterest.com. heaven. heaven. heaven. i have found the most inspiring images. it is a collection of images and you can "pin" them to make a virtual bulletin board. it's heavenly.

the reason i mention it is because my dearest mama offered to make me a quilt for my new home. she decided that it needs some of her love for me to always see. which you can only image the tears i cried when she said that. she gave me the assignment to find the quilt design i would like. i found a few, but am so indecisive about some of these decisions. one thing for decor determines so many others! i gave the designs to mom and said to do whatever she wanted, and same with the fabrics. she started working on things at a quilt retreat with some of my second mothers and just didn't like it. so she decided to wait until i got home last week and have me check things out. she wasn't loving it, and had a feeling i wouldn't either. and i didn't. mom decided that it was very most important for me to love love the hug of a quilt. so she took me to a quilt store in st. george and then in alpine to find new fabrics for the quilt design we found together:

these are the fabrics we found for my quilt and i can't even begin to tell you how excited i am for it!!

i need to do an update of the new lay-out of my front room and the trip to utah last week. i'll get on it asap!!

still here

2011-07-19T08:14:00.001-06:00

promise. i am still here. and still alive.
just wishing for more moments in the day. what else is new, right??

it has been an incredible past month!! becca has been here and it has been a dream.

yesterday when i woke up for work, it was so weird not to have her here. sunday morning, when i woke up for church, it was so lonely getting ready and driving by myself. yesterday after work, it was sad driving home by myself and not having someone to talk about and plan dinner with. the apartment feels too big. blah.

maybe i'll update more sometime, maybe i won't. at the rate i am going, most likely not. :)

work is wonderful, and wonderfully busy. 12 hour days are the norm, with 9 hour days feeling like a breeze. thus, priorities are shifting a bit and the blog has been sadly forgotten.

duck tours :)

remember how i got to speak at efy?? july 4-6th i was playing in missouri with great kids and fun teachers!

by wednesday afternoon, we were tired!! so i let them take a 2 minute nap. haha. love it.

one of the GREATEST things about going to missouri was matching up with BROOKE!! brooke and devon and i were counselors together way back in the days of efy. they live 3 hours away in willard (where devon was just called to be bishop!) after driving for 2 days back from florida, they got up at 6 am and came to spend the day with me!! AND they and their perfectly lovely kids sat through the entire day of me teaching!! talk about the truest of friends. the only problem is that it was such a teaser - not enough time. we have emphatically decided that we CAN NOT go another 7 years with out seeing each other again.

remember that show gilmore girls?? remember how it was based on towns in connecticut?? remember how connecticut is just a few moments away from us?? remember how lori lai (??) drives a jeep? becca and i so remember all these things and thus, we had our own gilmore girls weekend - complete with a rented jeep (which i was in love with in many many ways and am seriously looking to trade in my little rav4)

we found a perfect gazebo and many many great stars hollow spots!!

okay - i can't figure out how to move these pictures. these have nothing to do with the stars hollow trip, but have everything to do with the attempted walden pond trip with sarah jane and brian. sarah jane is becca's great, great friend. she came to play with us for a few days!! soo fun! on sunday, we tried to take a picnic to walden pond. tragically, so did the rest of boston and it was too crowded. thankfully brian is the master tour guide and led us to the old north bridge in concord. becca brought some thoreau to read to us and it was an absolutely perfect afternoon!!

okay, back to stars hollow/gilmore girls!

yes, we totally found a jeep in the town of washington which is the actual town the show was based off - it was pretty darn cool!!

now the rest of these are just random moments of heavenly moments with becca. i get to race HOME for a quick trip to play with the fam. i am sooo excited. there isn't really time to be with everyone i love, so please just know that i love you! and i might update more later. :)

ps

2011-06-09T07:37:00.000-06:00

typing the last post, i was trying to think if i have done anything other than work and house lately - and remembered that i get to speak at efy . . .

in missouri this year! july 5th and 6th and the best part is that . . .

. . . brooke and devon jarvis

. . .and michael and maria imhof

all live there!! brooke and devon are coming up to visit, and michael and maria live in the town i will be speaking. just a little excited! and i submitted a new talk/lesson for efy and i am really excited about it. it's about getting to know the Lord and comparing it with how we get to know new friends. remember how i really like teaching??

organized

2011-06-09T07:28:00.000-06:00

yesterday morning i realized that becca comes in just a few days!! i can't even begin to say how excited i am! as much as i love my familia and want them to experience my boston life with me, it's becca who i think would love it the most, so i can't wait for her to have her own boston moments!

since my thoughts while being in my apartment have been on where to put my things, i realized that i need to also think about where becca will put her things! so last night i did some reorganizing and consolidating.

this is the hall closet where she can hang things. i will bring up the lids to these bins and maybe we can create our own little dresser for her. actually, having a small bookshelf in here is probably the wisest thing for becca, and just for life . . . hmm .. .

becca is one of - if not THE - best cook i know. i can anxious for her to teach me how to make good, simple food. i reorganized the kitchen with the bins i found in the hall closet (amazing, i know!)

yeah, these lids to the pots and pans need help. the long chord for the microwave is there . . .

and i even have room to fill!! and there is another cupboard by the fridge that is empty too!

becca, 5 more sleeps!

happenings

2011-06-08T11:08:00.000-06:00

wow. does the state of my blog reflect the state of my life? yes.

very much yes.

i am tired. very tired these days.

but good tired. and grateful tired. so my apologies.

these first two are from the night of hector's birthday. i will need to update some wonderful pictures hector has taken of our group-troup. this night it was just brian, me, hector, and his sister steph who headed to the North End - aka Little Italy - to find something wonderful to eat! And we did!

but not until after we met a fun family on the T who had never been to boston and had never been on a subway. brian put on his tour guide hat and gave this little family a little tour of little italy and the government center. good times! then we wandered around and found a yummy bakery and then dinner at perfectly iconic boston italian locations. loved it! thank you hector for being born!

this past sunday, i was in charge of a ward dinner. lots of people. not enough food. lovely. good learning experience. and frustrating because i lessened the amounts that my mom so lovingly thought through. dang. oh well. lesson learned!! ALWAYS MAKE MORE THAN YOU THINK! but overall, i think people had a good time. we had a "bake off" and there were oodles of entries which was yummy and thrilling!!

and then because i have such incredible friends, they told me to go home and they would clean up!! soo nice!

yes, this is me looking how i felt . . . done!

this is my favorite. i was in clay's office working on something and when i walked out, this is what i saw . . . them looking at my desk and what i had done. they had no idea i could hear them. it was hilarious!!

and then last night, i had my first dinner party, by myself, at my own place!! i know - i am a big girl! :) again, wonderful friends helped bring things and it was yummy! not to mention it was sister steven's birthday. so even better!

while i had it "cleaned up" i thought i would take current pictures. can you tell what my life consists of?? work and my place. that's it. :) but i am motivated to get some spaces open for BECCA who will be living with me for a month starting next week - i am sooo excited!!

table brian and i found on memorial day while antiquing. it is the future home of a tv. someday.

cute little coat hanger on my extra door . . . love it!

i have been realizing why my mama loves to fold clothes, etc. you can make them look so beautiful! in the bathroom, i decided to put my "getting-ready stuff" in the closet and just have the towels to look clean and crisp. i put one of melissa's designs in there so that it didn't matter what towels were out, they would all match.

becca's future closet. yup, need to figure out what i am doing with the below bins. and thought that i would show how unperfect many of the spots are!

the mirror was another memorial day find - LOVE it!!

and i am so grateful for the free filing cabinet from jenn and kurt. perfect spot i think!

now i need your help: the following spots are places i need something. so what do i do here?? and what rugs do i find for the other spots??

happy boston life - i honestly LOVE it soo soo much!!

my apartment

2011-05-25T06:31:00.000-06:00

my sister, melissa, has been so patient in waiting for updated pictures of the new place.

unfortunately, mom and i worked so much this past weekend (she flew in thursday night and left early yesterday morning - she is soo wonderful), that we spaced taking pictures. we were so sad that we didn't do before pictures. because - whoa mama - it was a mess!

mom walking out of the front of the building. love the character the broken cement at the stairs, and the old newspapers add . . :)

friday night dinner at the yummy and massive blue ribbon bbq just down the street (and next door to a yummy bakery!)

mom isn't too happy as she is talking with dad. why are we sitting on the front steps you ask?? oh maybe because i might have locked us out of the apartment and we are waiting for the firemen - YUP, the FIREMEN to show up in their fire truck and save us!

sunday night, the Christensen's had a farewell dinner for lisa, the former assistant. talk about beautiful and YUMMY

monday night was dinner with the preece's. i soo love them!

and tuesday morning, before the tears at the airport, here is the apartment!

mom put together this beautiful ikea dresser ALL BY HERSELF!!! wow. wow. wow.

now my job is to really organize the cupboards and closets. and make it my home. BUT the door is always open for guests, so let me know when to book your reservation for the air mattress!! :)

moving day

2011-05-16T18:22:00.001-06:00

friday the thirteenth. not the wisest day to make a move. pretty much on my own. and gather furniture. not. so. smart.

but i did. and thanks to some fabulous friends i am settled into my OWN PLACE!! oh, but first, can i tell you how much i love this girl?? how do i know her? let me explain.

many moons ago, i got to teach institute for a byu stake. loved it. soo soo much. i learned more than i think i have ever learned in a year. and i feel like the class was special for everyone involved. fast forward a year or so after i taught, and i am at a singles conference in boston. sitting at my table is a guy who was in class! crazy. we became friends. and as he was teaching for teach for america in philadelphia, we emailed, etc. fast forward again. i now am living in boston, and in need of some friends, so i go visit the guy in philadelphia. one of his dearest friends lets me stay at her place for the weekend . . . and the rest is history. danelle is a woman after my own heart. it was so great to get to have real, solid conversations with a dear girl friend. she loves the church more than life itself and i called ben (the philly friend) to thank him for having danelle in his life so that she could be in mine. she endured quite the adventurous thursday day and here we are enjoying our dessert first as we explore a bit of harvard square.

and danelle was the champ all weekend as i had to move. boring for her. but Godsend for me. we committed to another real boston vacation asap! (and of course these pictures are backwards. sorry.)

it's soo popcorn popping on the apricot tree. this is a tree and bench i pass each morning into work. the stairs in the background is where i enter the building. i just thought it was so beautiful this morning with all the blossoms that had fallen. i have mentioned that i heart new england??

saturday night, as i was putting things away, ct came and played live music for me. love it!

i'm eating frosted mini-wheats with strawberries late at night . . . just because I CAN!!! i have my own milk, my own bowls, my own strawberries, own cereal, own sink, my own knife .. . oh the joys!

friday night sleep over! this was taken at about 1:30 am i think. we were so tired. danelle almost slept on the couch in her clothes - yup, what a good friend i am. i wear out my visitor's - my very first visitor! when i rearranged the blankets for her, she got cold, so decided a bed would be better. i am standing at the door way. the mess of everything is sitting on the box springs of a queen bed. the air mattress is at the foot of the queen box spring, and laying perpendicular. not that this makes any sense, but miss wanted some attempt of getting the lay of the apartment . .

this is the "creepy white van with no windows" that was my best friend on friday. i picked her up at 9 AM and didn't return her until 1:00 AM. blessed harvard perks that made this lovely just $64.00 for the entire day. Oh, plus $40 gas. whatever. well worth it i think. if nothing else, just to get to pick danelle up from the temple in the "creepy white van!"

oh yep, this was the final load. should have taken pictures of the three previous ones!!

don't know. so don't ask. must have been on one of my power loads from the van . .

so this is when you know you have a great great friend. ct not only waited in norwood for me to come pick up the couch, table, etc. and helped load the van, then helped unload the van. but on thursday night, he made homemade pesto and hummus. he then packed a cooler with all the things he would need to make me the yummy pesto sandwiches he knows i love - including plates, and silverware, and knives, and tomatoes, and onions, and dark chocolate and peanut butter!! yup, talk about one of the luckiest girls in the world!

cute table . .

. . and soo cute ironing board, i know!! and yes, check out the little bird house on the ground. and the cool cubby thing in other pictures. i found them at a store i am smitten with - salvage chic. oh boy, so worth the forever long trip to pembroke, ma.

the feast! and danelle being awesome.

home sweet empty home.

mama sent many boxes of some things i wanted from utah. and of course, she wrote a love note in the box!!

and the blessed pesto!!

i'll take more picture this weekend - when mama comes to help me get organized and decorate!! hip hip hooray, i can hardly wait!!

happy birthday dearest lizzzzy!

2011-05-16T07:12:00.001-06:00

i remember this day, 15 years ago so vividly. maybe it's because i was in charge of getting everyone to church on time. and as soon as sacrament meeting was over, most of the ward followed me out to the foyer to call the hospital (obviously pre-cell phone days. dang, liz. that makes you OLD!). mom and dad had woken me up that sunday morning telling me they were off to the hospital - mom's water had broken. i was kind of freaking out!!

i was a senior in high school. it was 10 days before graduation, and i a new little sister was on her way!!

as we crowded around the phone, i just remember thinking that the whole ward felt like this baby was theirs. we had discussed names to call this new addition to the snyder family. but we decided to do what we did with becca - wait to finalize the decision until we had met her. we knew we wanted to call the baby "libby" if we thought she looked like an elizabeth. obviously, that was the name we decided was her fit - i can't even think of what the other names were . . . maybe hannah?? we tried soo hard to have "libby" fit. but it just felt wrong. from day one, it's been lizzy!

and can we talk about how long we knew we needed lizzy in our family?? i remember a number of times sitting in our house in california - between the ages of 10-14 - and feeling a definitely knowledge that someone in our family was missing. often times, i would look around and count the family members in the room to makes sure i wasn't going crazy. but even after i mentally knew that we were all there, in the same room even, i knew that we were missing someone.

and goodness gracious. i don't even know what the snyder family would be without "little lizzzy", "lizbert", "bertie-baby" . . . life would be empty.

i have told lizzy over and over again how she is who i wanted to be in my life. period. she is beautiful, fashionable, hilarious, smart, creative, sooo amazing with children, yet fits in with anyone. she is the most beautiful dancer i have ever seen. and yet, she is mature and aware of others and in tune to the spiritual realities of life. i miss this woman like crazy and hope she knows that i STILL want to be her when i grow up.

happy happy birthday lizbert!!

new experiences

2011-05-11T05:34:00.001-06:00

ugh . . . i updated all this info and somehow it's gone! grrr . .

hbs :)

2011-04-24T08:22:00.000-06:00

i just finished my second week at hbs.
although i didn't take pictures of this past week - my first solo week - i did document my week with lisa.

we'll go backwards. because i definitely felt a bit backwards last week trying to do things without lisa holding my hand!

this guy prepared and sang and farewell song for lisa!

one of lisa's former coworkers

the lovely christensen's

lisa and the man that knows everything!! professor willy shih!

it's official. i am a harvard employee

lisa and the forum boys - they take care of the other parts of clay's life

maybe this is blurry of us because that's how we felt?!?!

the groupies

lisa cleared out her inbox and mine in rapidly filling up!!

our salvation bunny! it was a big day when we cracked open this little guy's head to partake!

here we go!! the new adventure begins!

birthday becca!

2011-04-11T19:39:00.001-06:00

april 12th is a great great day in my life.

on this day, 23 years ago, my life changed.

we were at the barber's house. when my mom and dad ran to the hospital, me and jesse and melissa were picked up by "aunt" kathy. maybe because it was just a night of waiting for us, the grover kids came over to keep us company. so it was the barber kids, the snyder kids, and the grover kids all awaiting the news of what the baby was. maybe ultra sounds weren't available yet, i can't remember.

but what i do remember is that we were watching the wonder years and they were up on a billboard for some reason. and then the show with tony stanza came on. when we got the call that we had a new little sister, jesse was so disappointed, he kind of threw a tantrum of sorts. in order to distract him, kathy threw us all in the van - i think lots of us were sitting on the floor - and went to get ice cream cones. it was so past bed time and jesse wanted thrifty ice cream, not just plain vanilla from mcdonald's. because it was so late, we didn't go to thrifty, or it was closed or something. so jesse had a hard hard night.

since then, he has definitely changed his tune, and personally, that night, 23 years ago was one of the greatest moments because becca was born.

an now i am crying.

just thinking about who i am because of her. how i have become so much of what i want to be because of becca. i am soo glad that there is a day to celebrate her birth, her life, and all that she is.

becca inspires me. she has a style and courage and passion for life, and creating that continually reminds me to stretch and become a bit more. i bought a beautiful ring with birds on it because i thought it was something i thought becca would have bought. i try to wear more colors and am more flexible and creative with the patterns in my clothing because i feel like becca is. if becca loves a musician, i buy their albums and love them too. when becca compliments my teaching or thoughts that i have, i feel deeply and completely humbled because i know that she is doesn't say things just to make me feel good. she is specific in her praise and has reasons why i deserve the compliment.

becca creates beauty every where she is. whether it's with food, or paper, or decorating, or clothing, or loving friendships, she creates beauty. she is very aware of people's needs and wants and assists and gives so much of her life and time in lightening others loads. she read chapters and chapters of a book to me when i had thyroid surgery. i couldn't sit in a way to even read, so becca just laid by me and read and read. she knows how much i love stories and took care of me in a way that i hadn't even thought of.

nice. totally crying now.

she doesn't let her own feelings and pain get in the way of others moments. when i had to speak at byu women's conference last year, she allowed me to stay focused and waiting to share some heart breaking news with our family until after the talk. i still can't get over this. because i really don't think i could have ever done this.

rebecca is one of the most wonderful, incredible, powerful, building people i know. and i am constantly amazed and in awe that i get to have her as my sister. so happy happy happy birthday dear becca. i love you so so much.

ps wanna see just how wonderful she is??
beccaburytells.blogspot.com
rebeccamade.com
http://mormon.org/me/338Q-eng/

te-jas

2011-04-09T23:08:00.000-06:00

oh the joy. oh the bliss!
i get to be with miss! - hehe. pathetic rhyme, but, it's as good as it gets from me.

i'll write more - love how i say this ALL the time - but this is what boston looked like april 1st - the day i flew to texas and into the 90 degree weather! craziness!

note. i obviously loved the gray linen pants last week. and i do realize that i am wearing the exact same outfit when we went to boerne, and at sea world. no, they were not the same days. ahhh, the joy of not knowing anyone i was seeing. and, i honestly may have finally arrived to where i don't really care what i am wearing?? well, at least i am a lot closer to that point.

another note. this picture of me and miss makes me realize just how much a like we look. i LOVE it!!

general conference april 2011

2011-04-03T11:44:00.000-06:00

in music and the spoken word this morning, Clayton Christensen was quoted. they commented that as a published author and harvard business professor, he has stated that the measure stick of his success is his personal influence in personal lives. and the reality is that, all who know him, know that this is truly his measure of success. he cares about the individual. he cares about each one he comes in contact with. he wants to share the love of the Lord in every interaction he has.

this morning is the sunday morning session of general conference. i get to be in san antonio, texas with aaron and melissa and sweet tillie and cal. it is soo wonderful to be with family for conference. lots of thoughts have been going through my mind. when i get back to boston, i will be starting my new job with clayton christensen. it is a new chapter of life. it was surreal and sad to leave work on friday. but am thrilled that the sweet friendship with the nichol's will continue for many many years to come. i am soo glad to be with my sister and her family in a little "break" of daily life and be physically and mentally ready to begin this new chapter. i get to just be. and with conference, i get to have "doctrine diamonds" to remind me of who and what i want to be.

president uchtdorf:

saul's conversion. i love the story of saul. i love that the people

elder paul v. johnson:

the only way to see the vista is to continue the climb

marvelous blessings on the heels of great trials.

"can do all things through Christ, who strengthens us" - how?? how does Christ strengthen us.

bishop burton:

needs and wants

"will this buy me bread?"

must be fully invested in helping others - if we are to receive eternal life.

sister allred:

i sooo love her. i love her love and energy and devotion to Relief Society work and the sisters. she desperately wants the sisters to become and be all that they possibly can. she has seen first hand the compassion and consistent care to broken lives and homes.

elder david a. bednar:

light is there, even though it looks and seems like a light-less day; just like when the sky is overcast .. . the sun is there, we just may not be aware . .

"have you done any good in the world today?"

i think i need to re-evaluate my priorities of helping lives. and what i make important in my day . . .

- oh what just happened before the choir sang??! what was so funny??

president monson:

sacrifice for temple worship. why so willing to give so much to attend the temple?? am i valuing the temple in such a way? am i making temple worship a priority in my time and my heart? am i choosing to believe and understand the temple blessings?

last day

2011-03-31T21:10:00.000-06:00

tomorrow is my last day working at J. Gordon Nichol & Company.

it seems so surreal. i can't believe i am leaving.

jamie and sarah and their kids are sooo incredible. they are the reason i have been able to come and live my dream out here. they are a crucial and vital part to the miracles and gratitude i have been feeling and experiencing.

i wanted to do something to show how much i care. i found this quote and attempted to make a stitchery. love when i forget how long such things take. let's just say, sleep didn't really happen last night. nor will it soon tonight.

i am also making them a coupon for babysitting for 24 hours. :) hopefully they know just how treasured they are to me.

next to normal!

2011-03-26T18:14:00.000-06:00

this beautiful friday evening began as linda and i (soo speedily, yet legally) got to providence, rhode island from lexington, ma within an hour!! which is beyond shocking and a miracle. we met ct and brian at the union city brewery for some yummy dinner. so of course i had to take pictures of the food. i think it must just be an excuse i have - an excuse to take pictures and record the moments.

love that ct falls asleep during dinner . . . oh wait - now awake =)

after we were stuffed, we had a speedy walk to the theater. so not a fan of spring not knowing it's here and it being freezing cold. i am determined it's spring and thus, wore only a cute jacket, not a warm one. blast.

but soon enough we were at the beautiful providence performing arts center! we ream up to the rest rooms and i felt like jane austen walking up the stairs. so so beautiful.

we were here to see the incredible Next to Normal. ct and i had seen this musical in nyc. ct has seen it oodles of times, but brian and linda hadn't seen it yet. when i saw it in nyc, i sobbed and sobbed. during intermission, i was in almost hysterics. this time, i thought i would be a bit stronger. chuckle chuckle chuckle. not so much the case. i had forgotten to bring tissues, so grabbed a hand full of tissues from the rest room and was so so glad i had them.

i won't tell the story line. and there are some words that i cringe at. but the story is real. it is raw emotion. as we all thought and processed after the show, we talked about how so many of the hard hard things in life are based on fear. we fear pain, and thus, we hold on to dreams, and what we hoped life would look like, or a life that we think life is suppose to look like, and we create even harder moments and pain for ourselves. how often, if we just had the courage to accept and even embrace the broken moments, would we be filled with Light.

this is the last song, Light:

Natalie:
We need some light.
First of all, we need some light.
You can't sit here in the dark.
And all alone, it's a sorry sight.
It's just you and me.
We'll live, you'll see.

Dan:
Night after night,
We'd sit and wait for the morning light.
But we've waited far too long,
For all that's wrong to be made right.

Diana:
Day after day,
Wishing all our cares away.
Trying to fight the things we feel,
But some hurts never heal.
Some ghost are never gone,
But we go on,
We still go on.

And you find some way to survive
And you find out you don't have to be happy at all,
To be happier alive.

Natalie:
Day after day,
Give me clouds, and rain and gray.
Give me pain, if that's what's real.

Henry and Natalie:
It's the price we pay to feel.

Dan and Diana:
The price of love is loss,

Dan:
But still we pay.

Dan and Henry:
We love anyway.

Gabe:
And when the night has finally gone.
And when we see the new day dawn.
We'll wonder how we wandered for so long, so blind.
The wasted world we thought we knew,
The light will make it look brand new.
So

All:
Let it
Let it
Let it
Let it
Let it
Shine, shine, shine.

Day after day (day after day),
We'll find the will to find our way.
Knowing that the darkest skies will someday see the sun.

Dan:
When our long night is done,

Dan and Natalie:
There will be light.

Diana:
(There will be light.
There will be light.)

All:
There will be light.
When we open up our light.
Sons and daughters, husbands, wives.
Can fight that fight.
There will be light.
There will be light.
There will be light.
There will be light.

there were sooo soo many lines from the songs that i loved. these are from another song:

We tried to give you a normal life. I realize now, I have no clue what that is.

I don't need a life that's normal
That's way too far away
But something next to normal
Would be okay
Yeah, something next to normal
That's the thing I'd like to try
Close enough to normal
To get by

soo soo many things i loved about the words, the concepts, the analogies, everything.

i want to be apart of what frees people from the hurt and pain they live in. i want people to know there is so much more. i hate the pain that i know is real in the lives of the people i love, of people that have become family. i want to be a safe place where people know that i love them no matter what.

i am grateful i was with these people to see this show. tragically, the girl i asked to take our picture, wasn't too thrilled about it. so, a few attempts (and the fact that i had it set to the wrong setting . . a flash??!!).

me making faces while ct sets the camera more effectively . .

linda brought us mini-cheese cakes for dessert. what better way to share, than on the floor! we all took bites and voted on our favorites. lime wasn't in the top 4. but the dark chocolate, vanilla bean, raspberry, and mango were.

and thus, it was a happy happy friday!!

ps ct had a meeting, but linda, brian, and i had a yummy yummy breakfast on our way home this morning in the sweet bistro 45 in north attleboro, ma. love it all!

stake relief society meeting

2011-03-19T19:54:00.005-06:00

today was a beautiful stake relief society meeting.

can i just tell you how much i already love people in the cambridge stake?? and how happy and excited i am to know and love more and more people?? i'm hoping that 10 years will be enough time to do so! (cuzz that's how long i would like to be here!)

although today was lovely, getting today was crazy. and of course it was because i was "getting" to present/teach/talk. note to self: when you visit teach a member of the stake relief society presidency, you are bound to get "invited" to share something sometime. so at least my turn is over and done with!!

i got to share some thoughts about "The Beauty of Broken Dreams: When Plan A Fails". i have had many thoughts about this topic, but in sharing thoughts with women who i don't know, and who are living broken lives on a variety of levels, made things more intense for me.

thankfully, things and thoughts came together about 5 minutes before we began! and i love the Bible Dictionary definition of Prayer on a new level, and love Sarah, Abraham, and Issac on new levels as well.

because this is the first time i have spoken without family a wonderful friend video taped it all for me!!! i know, she gets the greatest friend in the world award!! if it ever imports for me, i'll share the video - for all those who are crazy and stuck in their houses in alaska (em, i think you would be the only one desperate enough to watch it!).

here is a before shot.

i didn't pass out. and no one seemed to storm out of the room. so i feel like it was a success!! :) honestly, i love the chances i have to prepare. i selfishly love what i learn while preparing and sharing what i have learned, and then gathering from those around me. so hooray!

i think i uploaded the videos to youtub??!!
and this is after the lesson. dearest sister lynn is the sister of a former roommate. how i LOVe that she is here in the boston stake. and now, just need her in myward!!

i got home, changed clothes, and went with some friends to look for furniture. random, but mr. brian rich is moving into his own place in two weeks and needed a couch. blessed west elm. he had told me about the really cool pallette's they had displayed and amen, they were pretty awesome. i took lots of pictures so that perhaps we could replicate it . . . not only in his apartment . . . BUT IN MINE!!!!

yup, i signed lease papers this past week for my own apartment!! i can't wait!! i will move in middle of may. mom is coming to help me get organized!!! happy happy things are happening and i feel like pinching myself to make sure it's all real!!

here are a few pictures . . .

now i'm off to bed. will get up early early to prepare for a sunday school lesson tomorrow, and be ready for a trek meeting at 7 am, then get to church early to cut fruit and veggies for the linger longer . . . and then . . . SLEEP!! sweet dreams. :)

maple sugaring!

2011-03-16T21:59:00.002-06:00

today - despite the rain and mud - i got into the back of a dark blue honda odyssey with mrs. jennie preece, and carter preece. the bench in front of us held the lovely cate preece, miss hanise, and the stunning sammy preece. front row included mr. mike preece and as co-captain, the rad ruby.

thanks to my incredible boss, i earn 4 hours a week off. which was the perfect amount of time for us to head up to turtle lane farm in north andover. it is a family owned operation - backed by the entire town of north andover. a few years ago, the family went to new hampshire to see a maple sugar farm in production. when they got home, one of the four daughters asked if they could tap their trees. and four years later, they are tapping 500 trees!!!

the mom and dad work full-time in other careers and the maple sugaring is a "hobby". who does that?!?! talk about fun fun fun!!

i heart boston

2011-03-08T09:08:00.000-07:00

beautifulness . . .

on my desk

2011-03-03T21:02:00.001-07:00

today, i found this on my desk in my room . . .

no i did not apply for an MBA . . .

it's from Human Resources . . . because i get to be Clayton Christensen's assistant!!!

if you don't know who he is, you are soo missing out. he was on the cover of Forbes magazine last week, he writes new york times best selling books, and is talked about at General Conference. yeah, he is beyond incredible and starting april 11th, i will try to assist him in all the things he does. if you want to read more about him, check out www.claytonchristensen.com!!

so nothing more can top this envelope, but here are the other items on my desk:

beautiful green bird i found at an antique store in new hampshire last monday. i feel like melissa as she collects random ceramic birds . . .

hmm . . i guess it was all about the shades of green from the antique store! love love love these other find from new hampshire as well.

and then remember how i am in a calligraphy class?? oh my heavens, i am LOVING it!!! tonight we wen to a smaller pen size. and i am addicted. except that i didn't do my homework the other night, so either the teacher is just nice to me, or i am truly an amazing student!! haha - i told my mama tonight that all her efforts have lead to this: me being a star student in my community ed calligraphy class of 12 people (in which ALL of us are stars). i know. it's all about reaching for the stars - and goodness, i am slowly getting there . . . one community ed class at a time . . .

beautiful boston

2011-02-24T16:27:00.001-07:00

long story. but i got a few hours to play today.

so i headed to the boston public library to see the vintage postcard exhibit. i have been wanting to see it since i moved here. and today was the day!!

honestly, i was completely disappointed. the "exhibit" was three panels. and one touch screen panel that had lots and lots of postcards scanned in so you could see both sides of the postcards. and, there were beautiful giant posters of some of the postcards.

i have been wanting to take pictures of some beautiful door frames around the cities. so after a quick tour of the postcard exhibit, i started walking along the beautiful beautiful bolyston and newbury streets. shockingly i felt out of place because i wasn't wearing black leggings and brown boots. blast. gotta get on that! but regardless of what i looked like, i was excited about the doors!!

go boston!!

oh ps - i stopped at the wonderful wilson's farm to grab some fruit and took a few pictures. i have told melissa about how beautiful it is and she asked me to take pictures - so tah dah!

bill cosby

2011-02-23T17:46:00.001-07:00

remember how bill cosby is hillarious??

remember how i found out that he was going to be in boston and i was so excited??

i didn't by tickets but wanted to go the day of to see if i could get cheaper tickets. there was a ward party that night, but beautiful bill cosby had a 5pm show and an 8pm show. so i was thinking i would leave the 5pm show a titch early and race to the ward party.

a dear dear friend and i ended up being able to match up on saturday - bill cosby day - after trying for months to get together. she was kind enough to come with me to see bill. and we laughed and laughed and laughed our heads off. truly, our cheeks were hurting for hours after.

he wore sweats and crocs and i loved him even more for it. he was real and talked about the great and funny things about marriage - based on adam and eve. we couldn't stop laughing!!

so thank you jodi for going with me. and thank you bill for sharing your humor and personality. and thank you boston chapter of life - the chapter in which i live my dreams and do things i love!

yep, i am absolutely in love with his wife!!

i think she is absolutely stunning and beautiful!

too funny!

2011-02-18T10:36:00.000-07:00

at work, we are working on a new logo and website.

we chose to work with crowdSPRING - they are a company in which you post what you need done and designers submit work. then you get to choose which of the designs/designers you liked the best.

i had a few questions for one of the projects and noticed it was the same Kevin guy that always was responding to my questions. so i started joking with him.

his boss - and owner of the cool company - saw the funny exchanges we had via email and decided to post them on the company blog!! too too funny!

i know that my parents are soo hoping i spelled things correctly . . . me too! :)

beautiful mornings

2011-02-18T07:05:00.002-07:00

"oh what a beautiful morning"

how i love when Curly starts the movie of oklahoma out with this song. (and just because hugh jackman is fabulous, we'll add his version in as well!)

thanks to my momma being aunt eller in her high school production of this musical, we know almost every song by heart.

so when i wake up to these types of sunrises, i can't help but want to follow Curly's lead and sing.

yes i purposely put my camera next to my bed one night determined to capture the glorious morning i wake up to. and this morning, it was more beautiful than ever - good note to self that when i prove that i want to record the miracles and sweet blessings from heaven, i get even more than usual . . .

but i don't sing it out loud like Curly. i am sure it would wake people up in other rooms.

instead, i say a quiet prayer of gratitude and wowing. i feel extra hugs from the Lord on mornings like this. morning like this help me stop and reflect at the complete miracle it is that i get to be in boston right now. i am wowed and humbled that the Lord would hear my prayers and pleas and allow me this season of life. i know that He is very much aware of me and my life and my heart and my desires and my dreams. i am amazed at the personal care and attention i feel from Him. i know that He is shaping and molding me into the best me i can become. and that His vision for me is a divine and eternal vision - He seems me and loves me for what i will ultimately become and has patience with me as i stumble in getting there.

i don't always walk to work, but today i did. i get sick of listening to music, because i listen to pandora all day, everyday at work. so, instead, i listened to a talk from Elder Bruce R. McConkie about agency. not only did i notice how he made the scriptures come alive, i was very aware that the Lord is okay that we mess up. He knew we would - that was the entire point of us being here. i think the test is what we do after we mess up: do we return to Him? do we use that mess up to see things with more clarity? do we use the mess up to realize just how much we want Him in our lives?

a friend asked me the other day about thoughts i had in teaching people to love and use the scriptures. chuckle chuckle. kind of a major question. so i have been thinking about the characters in the scriptures and the lessons to be learned by each of them. i wonder and worry sometimes that we - as a general people - tend to assume we know the stories of the scriptures, and then stop. i feel that there is real purpose and divinely inspired reasons why these people - of all the people ever on the face of the earth - were chosen to be in scriptures that we have access to. i wonder just what else we are to know and become and follow from the lives and personalities and choices of those found in the scriptures.

hmm . . sorry. the goal was just to share the my beautiful mornings. didn't realize i had so many thoughts today!