friend brag

My friend Sarah's husband Jared is doing a photo-a-day project on his blog. I really, really love this!

The new man

Tonight I got lots of snuggles and kisses and played board games and giggled and just had a lot of fun!

So who's the new guy?

Well, I met him at my friend Cara's house tonight, where I went for a night of dinner, laundry, and TV watching.

He actually lives there too.

Meet Grayden.

He's 3. And totally my new best friend.

a Christmas gift

Chandra, do you read this blog? I don't think so, but if you do, avert your eyes!!! I don't want to spoil the surprise!


la de da


.....



do de day




.....




But for the rest of you,




look at this pretty plaque I made my sister for Christmas!



It's a silhouette portrait of me, since we're so far away from each other! (too narcissistic?)

I haven't decoupaged in a long time, so I sort of forgot the technique. It's bumpy and not perfect, but I think it turned out pretty nice.

The adventures of baby Madelyne

First, I must say that I've realized what's behind my blogging patterns. Basically I only like to blog if I'm in a good mood, a 'blogging mood,' and that just hasn't been very prevalent as of late.
But anyway, I promised a story, so I'm going to tell it.

Last Tuesday, November 25, I heard a strange sound coming from downstairs. When I got to the kitchen, I found Stephanie on the phone, crying. I was worried. She had just returned from visiting her hospitalized father on Sunday, and though he was doing better and was at home when she left, it was the first thing that came to my mind. I must have looked panicked. She turned to me and said, "it's good!" and after quickly ending the phone conversation she again turned to me and asked, "So are you ready to have a newborn in the house?" My response: "Yessss!"


Then I got the rest of the story, piece by piece throughout the day as more information came in from case workers and family members. Stephanie tells the story much better than I do, and will continue to tell the story on her blog, Maddy's World.
We've had Maddy for over a week now, and she's doing really great. She's completely precious and is just a really good baby. I am so grateful that she's with us.
Maddy and I on Thanksgiving

Homeward Bound

Um. I'm going home on Friday.
Yep.
Can you believe it?
I can't.

I've been homesick, missing my family, my friends, my little corner of the world, but I knew I could get through it. So what changed? After several tests and doctor's appointments, my mom has been scheduled for surgery. She's actually having surgery tomorrow, but I procrastinated so long on making the decision (because we can't really afford this plane ticket across the country), that the only "reasonably" priced tickets were for later in the week.
Really, I must say that I am the luckiest girl ever. Seriously. I was talking to my mom a couple weeks ago about how we were homesick for each other and we realized that that's actually something to be grateful for. I have a home and a loving family! How great is that?! Also, to add to my incredible luckiness, I have the best man a lady could ask for. He is so loving, so kind, so... just freakin' wonderful! When he realized how much I wanted to go home he wouldn't take no for an answer, even though we really don't have the money right now. I was all mushy for a little bit yesterday, crying because I get to go home, then crying because I'm going to miss him!

My momma and I

Any prayers for my mom would be appreciated. Her surgery is tomorrow (Wednesday) morning EST. She's had a fibroid mass in her uterus for quite some time and has been on the Depo shot to keep the fibroids from growing. All of the sudden the Depo stopped working, and within 6 months the mass grew from half the size of her uterus, to one and a half times the size of her uterus. It's causing a lot of pain, as you probably can imagine. A CAT scan showed new 'unidentifiable' masses on her ovaries, meaning they cannot tell if they are fibroids or something else. And basically, they've never done a biopsy of the big mass, so they don't truly know if that's benign either. Tomorrow they'll be removing everything - a total abdominal hysterectomy. :( I wish I could be there tomorrow, but I know she's in good hands. She works in the OR, so she's getting VIP treatment from all the staff! She even hand-picked her entire surgical team. Hah, my mom is such a ham. Today some nurses pulled her aside to show her the "VIP suite" they fixed up for her. The biggest room they have, extra pillows, and they're trying to get an extra bed so visitors can stay!! Also, my whole family is taking off work to be with her, including her sisters. I love our close family.


Just gotta say, in other news, Memorial Day weekend was really great. We went camping with a few friends for a couple nights. The first day was beautiful and the second night rained like crazy, but over all it was just so nice to hang out with nice people around a fire!

Isn't my man such a hottie?


Steve cookin' up some sausage

And last, but not least, this morning I took Markus to work and headed straight for the SeaTac airport to pick up 'Lil Fish' aka Markus' brother John. He'll be visiting for about a week and a half.

Weekend update

Long, but somewhat entertaining. Or at least informative.

Oh, it was such a good weekend!
Markus didn't have to work Friday, so we decided to go on a little road trip around the Olympic Peninsula. .. But first(!!!) we went to The Sherwood Press (2 links there) and met with Jami to talk about doing our invitations. I had some ideas, but needed help with the design, and she came up with a really brilliant and beautiful idea. I am so excited. Seriously. I cannot even describe how much I love paper and letterpress and great designs. When we were done with the consultation (I wouldn't really call it that... it was just so casual and fun), I didn't want to leave! The press is in this tiny little cottage, and there was just so much to look at. Jami saw my interest and offered to show us how the press works (and sounds). Again, just amazing. I felt like a little kid watching that machine, filled with awe and wonder. I wish you could hear the noise it makes... it's like a train almost. Clunk, clunk, cshhhh, clunk, clunk, cshhhh. Sometimes I think that I'll be a midwife with a paper/card business on the side. When I am some sort of professional, I'm definitely having Jami make my business cards. Oh man.

The Olympic Peninsula

OK, so, anyway, we were at the Sherwood Press for about an hour and a half, and then set off on our trip. We got started a little later than optimal, but it was still a great time. The drive was beautiful. There were unbelievable views of the mountains and ocean/bay/straits almost the whole time. We have a limited number of good photos since, well, taking pictures from a moving car never really is the best way to go.






We stopped in super-cute Port Townsend and explored a little bit, then drove on through Port Angeles and stopped for dinner in Forks.

Crescent Lake

Yes, I'm wearing denim overalls. I got them at Goodwill a couple weeks ago!

Because we got a late start, we stopped less than we had planned so that we could make it to the beach before sunset. When we got to Kalaloch, though, we were a little disappointed. Or maybe it was just me. But it was really foggy, and the beach wasn't very nice, and to be honest, I was scared. I don't know why... I've never been scared of the ocean before, but I also am more familiar with the Atlantic. The late sun, the dense fog, and the deafening roar of the ocean, not to mention the "Tsunami Hazard Zone" signs... it just wasn't the cozy beach atmosphere that I was
hoping for.

Creepy bird on the creepy beach


Um. OK.



Saturday was way more relaxed, and we mostly just worked on getting the apartment organized. Markus worked really hard and put away everything from the boxes that came while he was training in Yakima, so now our spare room is clean and open! I worked on de-cluttering the living room and kitchen, and we finally hung up all of our pictures and tapestries! Woo hoo! Oh, and you know what I haven't mentioned?? That from Thursday-Sunday the weather was pretty much amazing. There was actually a weather advisory for "above normal temperatures"! On the weekend we were well into the 80's! We sat down on our dock and put our feet in the water, then I decided it would be a good idea to try to dip myself in a little bit! Hahaha. I guess I forgot that I'm a little weakling. I slid in to the water with my back facing the dock, and then, oops, couldn't push myself back up! So Markus had to pull me up by my arms!! I think it must have been the summery weather, but this weekend really made me feel more like a kid: fun and curious. This, I think, is a good thing. I have been far too serious lately.

Sunday was pretty typical, which means "pretty great." We went to the early service at church and Amy preached a really unique and touching message on racism. And the trinity. She used a technique from InterPlay called DT3, or dance, talk, dance, talk, dance, talk, explaining that what she wanted to communicate wasn't expressible only through words. It was a beautiful experience.
After church we went to the Olympia Mahayana Buddhist Center. We have dropped in a couple times on their coffee hour and Markus wanted to go to a service. Yesterday was the last in a series of teachings on meditation, and both of us really enjoyed it. Jindak proved to be an entertaining and helpful teacher, and guided us to a meditation on the kindness we experience every day. We were to think about some kindness that was done to us, something that made our life better, no matter what the intention of the person who did it, and hold that feeling. I actually meditated on the feeling I received when I picked up my books from the library that I had requested on interlibrary loan. I have been wanting to blog about this, but just keep forgetting. This entry is getting too long, so I'll do it soon, now that I have a written reminder. The purpose of meditating on kindness is so that you will 'change the flavor of your mind', and be able to see kindness in every day. Basically the same as keeping a gratitude journal. The more you look for the gifts in your life, the more they will be revealed to you. Mmmm.

My favorite thing about yesterday was finally buying a tomato plant from the farmer's market! I had already planted some herbs, leaf lettuce, and flowers, but I've just been so anxious for this dang tomato plant! I love, love, love planting my little pots. Someday when we have a house we'll have a little garden. I cannot imagine life without a garden. Yesterday Markus asked me how tall the tomato plant will get and I estimated, showing him with my hands, "this high." He doubted me. And I said, "Dude, I grew up in a garden. Don't doubt." :)

My modest little "garden"


OK, I have a ton of errands to do today, so I better get my butt off this chair and into the shower.
Have a great day, everyone.

Cookies!

Markus gets back from field training tomorrow! Yay! Unfortunately, though, he and the rest of the unit have to go into work on Saturday and for half of Sunday. Boo!

I made him some cookies to take in with him on Saturday, and I thought I'd share the recipe. These are so easy and so yummy that they should be illegal. :-)


Delicious, Easy Surprise Cookie
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1 box chocolate cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup oil
1 bag of Reese cup miniatures

Mix cake mix, eggs, and oil together. Roll dough into a small ball and flatten with your thumb. Put a Reese cup in and fold the dough over top, rolling it back into a ball shape.
Bake at 375* for 8-10 minutes.
Mine made 34 cookies.

Springing

Markus sent me this picture at the beginning of February to let me know what our apartment looked like.



Now look at it!

Boo hoo

I miss Markus. I'm sad. I want to cry.



Here's a picture of a rainbow over the Sound.



And a picture of moss on trees. (It does that here)



Both photos were taken at Tolmie State Park. It's just down the road from us.

Strawberries and God

I just feel like I have so much to say! I've been thinking a lot about some broader issues that I'd like to talk about on here, but I need to think a little bit more about what I want to say. It's mostly just stuff about myself and my growth and where I am right now in life. I plan on getting to that soon.
But until then, I'll keep up with the updates!

Yesterday I tried out a new church that we were eyeing, but hadn't checked out yet. I am so glad I went! It was really a great experience. The service was good and I appreciated the sermon, but mostly I was just so happy with how friendly and welcoming everybody was! I hate sliding into a pew next to people only to have them ignore you until the pastor tells them to say hello to those seated around them. Are you kidding me?! This definitely did not happen yesterday. Immediately upon seating myself several people around me introduced themselves saying, "I don't think I've seen you here before." Now that's what I'm talking about! A church that's enough of a community to know when someone new is present. After the service my pew-mate Hank showed me around the church and led me to the coffee fellowship, introducing me to a few people on the way. One older woman introduced me to her daughter, Debbie, who was running the coffee time that day. Debbie and I chatted for awhile and when I left she gave me her number in case I wanted to go biking! Yay! The whole thing was just a really nice experience. I'm so glad, because I really liked a lot of what the church's website had to say, but you never know what it's actually going to be like.

After church I spent the whole rest of the day hanging out with our new friend Julia. Julia's husband Ben is in Markus' battalion. I had a nice time, and really enjoyed spending time with a girlfriend, but to be honest, when I left I was just exhausted. Julia is great, and I really like her, but we aren't really friends yet, so it wasn't an environment that I could just totally relax and be myself in. Know what I mean? I think that we are going to hang out again later this week, and go visit her family in Portland. Woo hoo! It'll be my first time ever in Oregon.


I'm sort of spoiling myself tonight. I just got a craving/was bored, so I went to the store and bought some strawberries and Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Now tell me those don't look delicious!

And the weirdest thing... Two of the strawberries in my pack were siamese twins!

I love babies...

Especially when they're family!

My sister Rachel had her baby last week! EEeeee!!!
A little boy.
Named Lucas Timothy.

I love being an aunt, so you just keep bringing 'em on, Rach.



I just want to kiss his little face! It's so weird to not be there to meet him. I met Cameron and Isabelle on the days of their births. This little sweetie will be 4 months old before I get to hold him. :( I'm going to learn how to be an awesome aunt from far away.



My little loves!
Cameron 13, Isabelle (being crazy) 4, and Lucas 6 days.

Happy Easter

Today we tried to color eggs Martha Stewart style.
The recipe says to use an enamel or glass pot. Having neither of those (it's hard to buy everything you need in life all at once!), we thought maybe it would work to make a 'double-boiler' and put a glass bowl inside one of our non-stick pots. (Are you laughing yet?) Only a few minutes into it, we heard a snap and shielded our faces, but it appeared that nothing really happened. After about 30 minutes of the water inside the glass bowl refusing to boil, I gave in and went to the store to get a new pot. Ha. Upon returning with an enamel pot, the operation really got going. Markus transferred the eggs from the glass bowl into the pot and then picked the bowl up out of pot #1. Except it wasn't really a "bowl" anymore, it was a glass cylinder with two open ends. The rest of the bowl was separated by a very clean break and stuck to the bottom of the pot! Oi! At any rate, we just finished the eggs, and I'd have to say, given the circumstances, they turned out pretty well. Next year we'll know what kinds of prints and colors work, and which don't... all of that fancy stuff.

I can't believe I forgot!

I have been meaning to post a picture of my mountain. I took this one while driving on post a couple weeks ago, so it's not of the greatest quality. I'll try again later, but for now... enjoy!

A couple pictures

Last Friday we went to the St. Barbara's Day Ball.


Here's Markus with Captain Nickolai Detert. Nickolai is getting out of the Army soon, and Markus is taking his position. The first weekend I got here, Nickolai and his girlfriend Jenny (you can see her in the background) had us over for dinner. So nice!


The real Nickolai:


The view from our balcony:

A nice Sunday

I looooove my roommates.

(Steph, Nicole, me, Cassie, Amber)

Unfortunately the only picture I have of all of us is from a couple months ago.
They're cute though, and I love them.

Today was nice. Nicole and I went to church at Cedar Ridge (I love it there! Love it love it love it!) Leslie came, which was a nice addition. :) I talked with my wife for a while, then with my (future) husband for a few hours! Woot. Then I said, okay, time to be "available" so I opened up my door and started crafting.



A couple cards I made.


While I was crafting, Cassie and Nicole came in for a couple hours and hung out. We chatted, I crafted, Cassie lesson-planned, Nicole crafted too, and it was very nice.

I made my own day

Work today really sucked the life out of me.
Actually, it started before work. I woke up this morning with the heavy fog of sleep refusing to be shaken away. I lied in bed for a few minutes, trying to allow the fog time to lift, but still... I couldn't draw up enough energy to hoist myself out of bed, let alone propel me through my day. I didn't even shower because I couldn't fathom having to go through the process... remove t-shirt, get wet, lather, rinse, lather, rinse, dry off, find clothes, get dressed, decide whether or not to dry hair or pull up in a cold, wet ponytail. No, definitely not today. So I brushed my teeth and washed my face. I stared at my heaping pile of dirty laundry, shaking my head, before digging through both clean and dirty clothes, trying to find something appropriate for work. Really, what's so wrong with a comfy pair of jeans and a t-shirt?
Today on Ellen, she explained that she's a crier. She's always been sensitive. And the people who tell her to grow some thick skin should just stop because if she hasn't by now, she's just not going to. What she's going to do it cry. Yeah, me too.
My co-workers were all mean to me today. I don't really want to talk about it. Just accept it as truth. Now, they may not have been trying to be mean, and yes, I am sensitive, but none-the -less, they were mean. And my phone, which normally doesn't ring more than 3 times during the day, and it's usually from someone within the office, rang continuously today, but only when I was seeing a client, and when I was trying to take a lunch break. Bah!
My roommate Nicole, with whom I ride to work, called at 3:30 to say that her boss had told her to leave early. Deal. Thank God.
And then I decided that the rest of the night would be spent trying to recover from a crappy couple of days.
I vegged on the couch and watched Oprah while eating a dinner of Ritz Chocolates. When that wasn't enough, I popped in Little Miss Sunshine, half watching the movie, and half reading a magazine. Olive's dance raised my spirits so much that I felt ready to leave the house. I decided to go to Arhaus to take pictures of the 'branches wrapped in yarn' I've been talking so much about. My roommate Stephanie joined in on the fun. We walked around Harbor East. The air was warm as a July night and smelled like a steakhouse, with hints of sea salt and rotting fish poking through. It was lovely. We came upon a Starbucks. Grande soy no-water chai. And on the way back to the car, we popped into the place that I knew would turn my night around. Whole Foods Market. Wandering leisurely throughout the store, I stopped, I smelled, I sampled, I even perused the cheese section in honor of my wife. And then, before leaving, I bought myself a fall bouquet of beautiful yellow and rust-colored daisies and mums to put in the vase that has traditionally been filled with gladiolis from the farm between Corry and Union City. This was the first fall since 2003 the vase has sat empty on my window sill. I think it's happy to be useful again.

Hilarious graffiti

This post is for djamine, a person I don't know. In fact, I don't even know her real name. But any friend of Craigmary is a friend of mine.




This is the best photo I could get while driving, and this one took a couple trys! Although not an easy subject to photograph, I chose this graffiti because it makes me laugh every time I go by. The bottom line says "Sparky Webb has AIDS."
Yeah, I know laughing is totally inappropriate, but seriously, who would write something like that?

The Army stole my boyfriend.

I ran errands today and went for a walk with my sister.
This is a definite improvement from my depressed couch-sitting that I've been doing for the rest of the week.
Maybe tomorrow I'll actually make some phone calls that I've been needing to do for a week or so!

So green.

When Markus and I left for vacation, Erie was just starting to bloom. The trees by the Blasco Library (which I have used to be my 'season/weather indicator' for the past four years) had just started to pop open their white flowers, and most trees had tiny leaves. The tree between my window and the apartment building next to mine was too sparce to feel comfortable sitting naked in my computer chair, and Markus couldn't identify a tree from a certain distance because the leaves were too small.
Then we went to Las Vegas. Spring was over months ago for them, not that we would have been able to tell anyway. As a stranger to the desert, I couldn't tell you if it was spring or autumn. All I could observe were the palm trees, pine trees, and vast desert. Seriously, how do you know if it's spring in a place that doesn't have deciduous trees?
Vegas was followed by Edmonton. Although Edmonton certainly isn't desert, it is in the plains. They have grass and trees, but nothing like we do here. Craigmary and their friends kept commenting on how green everything finally was, after months and months and months of brown and white, but -don't tell them this- it wasn't really that green.
Now, we're back in Erie. Spring has sprung. In fact, I'm pretty sure it's summer. I missed the blooming of the lilac bush outside my parents' house alltogether and the tree outside my window is now plenty of cover. All the side streets of Erie are covered with a lush green canopy. I feel connected with this section of earth. It feels good to be home.

A grown up

Yesterday was a really wonderful day of celebration. It was beautiful outside, Markus was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant into the Army, I was honored at the Bacchelaureate mass for doing a year of post-graduate service, Commencement was nice and the speaker was thoughtful, and I got to wear a really pretty dress all day long.

Yet, throughout the entire day, it still didn't hit me... I'm graduating from college. I tried really hard to think about it like, "I'm graduating, I'm a college graduate, I don't have to go to school on Monday, It's summer now, I'm graduating, I'm a college graduate....." to no avail. I guess I just felt like yesterday was nice, but it didn't mean anything. It's hard to explain, and I'm not doing a very good job. BUT THEN... I woke up this morning and rolled over and kissed Markus, and I thought, "Oh my. We're grown-ups. We're grown-ups laying in my bed." Hahaha. Does that even make sense to anyone who didn't experience it? Well, I hope so, because it was pretty hilarious.

Oh, something else hilarious that I definitely need to share: After graduation, Markus and I went out to dinner at Red Lobster with his family. Then we came home and decided to take a nap before going out to celebrate with friends. I think I set my alarm for about 9pm. Well, we totally passed out, and apparently I don't know how to set an alarm, because at 11:56, Markus goes, "Hannah, it's midnight!" and I had noooooo idea why he was waking me up from a perfectly good sleep to tell me it was midnight. I started getting cranky. I thought that he was the crazy one. I think I may have yelled at him. Then he says, "Where am I?" And I was totally convinced that poor Markus was having some sort of weird dream and didn't mean to wake me up. Then, the kicker, "Did we decide not to go out when I was sleeping?" Bahahha! Ooooh snap. So, we got our tired bums out of bed and got ready real quick and were able to meet Jimmy and Leah at Boardwalk. Let me tell you, going to the bar at midnight totally refreshed and sober = great amazing fun. We danced like it was 1999 just because we could.
So, not exactly the graduation night we had planned, but fun none the less.

Peace.