Entry Project

Sometimes it is just time for a little change.

Not a drastic one. Just a little one. I had a cream-colored berry garland at the base of my candle holders forever. I guess I just decided it was not for me anymore. However, the candle holders are black and my table is dark dark brown. At least the cream berries broke up that space. What to do???

(I know I am suppose to have a "before" photo, but I didn't take one, and I didn't want to set up the old entry, so deal with it :)

I am having a fabric fascination lately. Naturally, a pretty little runner would be the perfect solution. I went to JoAnns to go hunting. I needed some color, because everything else in the entry is so neutral. I also needed something light and not too heavy. I really tried to find something I wouldn't normally pick...break out of the box a little. This is what I picked! I love it. I chose something in the reds to coordinate with the living room. Do you like it too?




















Oh and yes! Of course some bead action had to be included along the edges.




































I feel like I need some help with my bottom shelf? I had this rooster deco (see the first photo) in my old house when this table was in the kitchen area. Now it isn't, and I don't have anything else to put there right now. What would you do with that space?

On Turning 30

Today is my birthday, and now I am 30. I'm okay with this. Really, I am. I actually look forward to my thirties. Not that my twenties completely sucked, but they certainly weren't exploding with everything grand and brilliant. There were definitely moments when life seemed perfect and beautiful. There were also times when I would have rather been someone else, doing something else, feeling something different. Don't we all feel that way sometimes? (Please tell me this is so.)

So, I am excited to face another decade and this next phase in life. Jon will finally be done with school soon…forever. Yesss. My kids are growing fast, and I have always been excited to be a mom of school-aged boys. In other words, I am glad the baby and toddler stages are behind me! Those weren't so easy for me. As for myself, I hope for a better attitude, more patience, and a lot more love.

Maybe I am disillusioned. Maybe my thirties won't be what I expect. Maybe they'll be worse. Life has a way of throwing curve balls at you. However, I do believe that I am an in control of my destiny. It might be because I just watched Invictus for the first time last week, but I love the poetry "I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul." That really sings to me. So come what may…it's all up to me.

I thought it quite poignant, but I heard a song this morning that has inevitably become my theme song…for at least toady. If you're 13, 30 or 63, enjoy.


Live Like Your Dying by Lenka

One of these days you'll be under the covers
You'll be under the table and you'll realize
That all of your days are numbered, all of them one to one hundred
All of them millions, all of them trillions

So what are you gonna do with them all?
You can not trade them in for more, no, no

Take every moment, you know that you own them
It's all you can do, use what's been given to you

Gimme a reason to fight the feeling
That there's nothing here for me
'Cause none of it's easy, I know it wasn't meant to be
I know it's all up to me, it's all up to me

So what am I gonna do with my time?

I'll take every moment, I know that I own them
It's all up to you to do whatever you choose
Live like you're dying and never stop trying
It's all you can do, use what's been given to you

All of the moments you didn't notice gone in the blink of an eye
And all of the feelings you can't help feeling no matter how you try

Take every moment, you know that you own them
It's all up to you to do whatever you choose
Live like you're dying and never stop trying
It's all you can do, use what's been given to you

Live like you're dying and never stop trying
It's all up to you, use what's been given to you

Reuniting in Vegas

Las Vegas was a perfect venue for old friends to get together after 14 years! A few weekends ago, I met with former classmates from AIS/D (American International School/Dhaka). I lived in Dhaka, Bangladesh from 1992-1996. (Ten points to those who know where that is - without looking at a map!) That was 7th through 10th grades for me. I complained a lot when I lived there. We all did. There was "nothing to do!" Social life consisted mostly of school, school-related activities, the American Club, and each others' houses. That's about it.

This is the view of the Strip form me and Elizabeth's room.














Our class was the biggest in the school, and we had about 40 students. What made it extraordinary was that we came from all over the world. I had classmates from the US, Canada, Costa Rica, the UK, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, France, Italy, Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam, Australia, India, Bangladesh, and more. We were incredibly diverse. And because it was so small, we really got to know just about everyone. It doesn't mean we were all best friends. In fact, there were a lot of people who - dare I say - hated each other. But we knew everyone in the school, and we shared a special bond. The bond of living and experiencing middle and high school together in one of the poorest and most densely populated nations in the world. Looking back, those were my best adolescent years. I had great friends, tremendous memories, a fantastic education, and lots of opportunity to travel.

Now that we are adults, we figured it was about bloody time to meet up again. After reuniting on Facebook, we decided on a date and Treasure Island Las Vegas. It wouldn't have mattered who decided to show up. I think we all feel that despite any history, skeletons or indifference, we would've loved to see anyone from Dhaka. I would have! I wish more people would've come to the mini-reunion, but we ended up with 5 classmates meeting in Vegas. Hey, that's about a whopping 12%! It was a great group of friends…me, Elizabeth Nach, Rizwan Sattar, Hangil (AKA Samuel) Jung, and Genna Garrett. Genna brought her husband James, so there was really 6 of us. Apparently Hangil now is called Samuel. That's just weird to us who knew him as Hangil, so we kept calling him Hangil. Sorry dude.

Genna, me, Elizabeth, James, Rizwan and Hangil












It was great to see each other again. Everyone looks so amazing and is doing well! I saw Elizabeth 1 year ago in DC where she lives. I also saw Rizwan 1 year after I left Dhaka. Other than that, I have not seen these people since 1996. It is so crazy to me to see how everyone has changed so much, but really we are all just the same as we always have been… Elizabeth is mellow, smart and sweet as ever. Riz is still the techie brainiac and has maintained his super crazy contagious laugh. Hangil is calm, philosophical and quite the physical Marine machine. Genna is fun and carefree. To me, we're all the same people with more experiences to our credit and maybe different perspectives on life. To me it confirmed people don't really change all that much. (At least that's been my experience.)

We met on a Friday afternoon/evening. We had a late dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant in our hotel called "Pho." Since Elizabeth is half Vietnamese, we wanted her to order for all of us, but she refused. We were on our own! After dinner, we hit the strip and walked to a casino/bar. Gambled a little. (I won $3.20!) Drank a little. (Don't worry, I had water!) Hangil had is palms read for a mere $40. I guess he is going to meet "someone" by the end of the year. Yay! After this, Genna and James split, and the rest of us went to piano bar. I had never done this before. It was so amazing. Two performers take tips and requests to sing and play any song you want. Super talented. We enjoyed a little blast from the past music (Journey, Guns n Roses, Queen, etc) and didn't enjoy some random country music. Luckily there were only a few of those. Phew! After that we went to our hotel casino and played some Black Jack. I won $5. I'm not generally a gambler, but I do like that game.

The next morning, Elizabeth and I worked out in the hotel gym. It was quite impressive for a hotel gym. Then we talked and met the guys for lunch at the buffet. Had some yum food and amazing desserts. Since each meal we had seemed to take at least 2 hours due to chatting it up, we didn't go out again until about 3 o'clock. We headed toward Paris. There we gambled some more (I lost $30), walked down the shops of Paris, and then met Genna and James again to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Since I gambled and lost my $10 to go to the top of the tower, Riz gambled to win me $10 back. Good thing he was lucky! At least there was a breeze up there (however hot it was), so it felt good. I tried to find a good Elvis to have my photo with, but I could only find super creepy old ones, so maybe next time! We had dinner at Kahunaville in our hotel. Our waiter, it turns out, was Mr. Las Vegas 2000. That's a body building competition. Since I was so impressed with his biceps, we posed in a photo together, and he gave me his card with his number on the back. haha. Nice. One of the highlights of the trip was seeing the Mystere Cirque du Soleil show at our hotel that evening. It was amazing. Definitely worth the money to see something like that. It is so incredible what people can do. I enjoyed every minute of it, but I was tense in my seat the entire time. I was so afraid someone would fall or something. Of course, everyone performed brilliantly!

Me and Nery, Mr. Las Vegas 2000. Impressive (him, not me)!















Hangil's room was double-booked when he arrived in Las Vegas. Luckily, they upgraded him to a pretty sweet suite to make up for it. So since we were tired after the show, instead of partying more we spent the next 6 hours until 4:30 am in Hangil's suite talking about Dhaka, our friends there, and other experiences that we have had since then. This was great. We watched YouTube videos, like Ninja Cat, David after Dentist, some Bollywood music video with English subtitles (haha - "I put a papaya there!"), and some "really funny" Captain Planet thing. Anyway, we had a ton of laughs, and Elizabeth took a little nap. Then she woke up, and we laughed more. It was a memorable night.

We slept in until 11:15 the next morning. I NEVER sleep that late! Good thing cause check-out was at noon. We met for lunch and went to the Mirage. We took our time eating. The night before Riz and I were talking about how much we LOVE Nutella. So ironically this restaurant had a Nutella milkshake! Yessss! Riz and I each ordered one. It was damn good! That was by far the best thing I ate on the trip! A good thing to end the trip with, because it was then time to leave. I was so sad about it. It's hard to let a good thing go, I guess, and I cried like a big fat baby. I hate that, but I guess I should accept the fact that I am an emotional girl, and I wear it all on my sleeve. So, there it is! I MISS YOU GUYS!

I can't wait to have another reunion. More laughs. More memories. More secrets revealed. But you're never going to know, because what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!

Here's me with each of my friends.


















We were really good at being crazy, as you can see. I think that's the best part of being with friends!


















I thought I should share an old photo. This one is from 10th grade prom. I know Elizabeth's not in this (she moved after 9th), but it's the only one I have with ALMOST all of us in it. Except 9th grade class photo - which I can't share because a few peoples' faces are destroyed (don't worry, none of you from the trip!!), and now I am feeling bad about it. lol.

Primary Game

So I created a quick Primary "Choose the Right" game a few weeks ago to play in sharing time. The kids had a blast! I also acquired an over-sized foam cube and colored dots on it to make a real fun and bouncy dice. That was for extra fun, but any dice will do. All you need is the game, a dice, and markers for each player/team. My kids now want to play this every day for fun and for Family Home Evening. I decided to share it with you. This one fits on an 8.5x11 sheet. I printed an oversize one, so if you really feel like you need that file for a Primary room or something then email me for it. Enjoy!

Limonada! Ahhhhhh!

Lime is one of my favorite flavors ever. Love it. Since I have been so diligent in not eating sweets and drinking soda this last month, I had to get a little creative. I like to drink water, but sometimes you just need a little something else. I created a single size recipe for a lovely limeade (or lemonade, if you prefer lemons). I'm feeling pretty smart about it too! Here it is. Best part is it is under 10 kcals for a whopping glass!* Try it, and let me know if you love it as much as I do.

Limeade
2 cups cold water
2 ice cubes
1/2 lime
2 packets Stevia in the Raw* or 1 1/2 T sugar

Place the water, ice cubes and Stevia in your personal blender - magic bullet or whatever. (Note that if you use sugar it still tastes great and has less than 100 kcal for over 2 cups of limeade. That's not too bad.) Juice the lime into the blender and why not...throw the rind in there too for some added flavor. Blend all up. Strain into a clean glass. Oh yeah baby! It's that simple!

*I use Stevia because it is a natural sweetner that comes from the leaf of the stevia plant found in South America. It is 100% natural and calorie-free! A definite bonus. Better than the harmful effects of sugar, and definitely better than Aspartame.

oh, the questions......

Jacob has been asking lots of tough questions lately (FYI, I am not making these up!)...

Where would we live if our house burned down?
Do people still use swords in real life?
Would a blow dart kill you?
What does kidnapping really mean?
What do they do with kids?
Are those clouds rain clouds?
Would lightning break through our roof?
If there were a WWIII, would the bad guys bomb our house?
Are there guys around here that shoot kids?
Will that giant that David killed be resurrected too? (I answer: Yes.) Will he hurt me?
etc, etc, etc

Seriously! I don't know how to answer some of these questions. He appears to be emerging with paranoia big time! I don't know what to do about it. I try to be honest but careful in not scaring him to death. You know, tell the truth, but not say too much. I want him to be aware and prepared if something were to happen, but I don't want him completely insane with worry either. I also try to comfort him by explaining how important it is to live righteously, keep the commandments, and listen to the Spirit's promptings. When we do those things, we don't need to worry, because no matter what Heavenly Father loves us and we can be a family forever.

Am I doing this right? I'll tell you what... he has never hugged and told me and Jon how much he loves us so much. I love him to pieces too! Man, being a mom is tough stuff!

Body Pains

What the (sorry) hell?! I just want to complain. My gut hurts tonight, and I have gained a few pounds over the last few months...on top of the 5 pounds I gained in the last year!! What is going on? I'm sure I could come up with a million guesses and excuses for this. Knee pain. Migraines. Back pain. Winter depression. Migraines. Pockets of laziness. That nasty little Pill. Migraines. More back pain. Blah blah blah.

Really though. Despite this last fiscal year of in and out at the gym (due to my excuse list above) I have been SO good and going to the gym in the last few months. I am working out hard. I am lifting hard and strong to gain all my strength back. AND I have challenged myself to a month of NO treats (aka ice cream, brownies, chocolate, candy, etc)! I haven't even cheated. I started on June 11th, and I am going until Jon's bday on July 10th. It hasn't been that hard for me. I actually enjoy this change in my life. AND for the last week I haven't had a soda. That's a big deal for me! I got the bleep scared out of me about that nasty little chemical called Aspartame, and I haven't had another one yet. I could drink a regular Pepsi, but yeah right! I am not wasting 500+ kcals in Pepsi! Who does that?!

Anywho, I guess I expected a miracle from cutting all forms of treats (and now soda) from my diet. I am seeing no miracles...just more pounds. What the?! I want to say it's the Pill. I am going to stop taking it and see if that helps me out a little. I took it once about 10 years ago, and a similar thing happened. I couldn't lose weight at all, no matter what. (The Pill makes me a little meaner too ;) So going off it better freakin help!

Grrrrrrr!

PS. I splurged with a Pina Colada Sobe tonight, and I think that is why my gut hurts. All that sugar my body isn't used to right now.