Saturday, March 31, 2007

Day of Praise

I'm sitting with my sister and brother in law in their little apartment watching General Conference via streaming Internet on BYU TV on a laptop and loving it! I know my family is all watching the same thing 3 hours earlier than me in some chapel in Northern California and that makes me smile. There's just something about hearing from Prophets of God that make me so thankful for my blessings.



As a writer I'm always looking for new ways to get all the ideas I have out of my head and down on paper (or in my laptop). My cousin left me a journal type notebook when she came to visit me and I've turned that into a gratitude journal. Each night I pick one thing I was grateful for, one experience, one person etc and I write just a few lines. I find myself having a hard time just choosing one. I love it!:

And so here are a just a few of the things I'm grateful for these days:

  • my eyelashes
  • my bed (all the talks, laughs, and tears)
  • music--for any kind of mood
  • my family
  • hard work
  • the word remember
  • patience
  • the moon
  • rain
  • a job that I love
  • poetry
  • self control
  • straws
  • the color purple
  • reconnecting with old friends
  • making new friends
  • be put in my place
  • learning something new
  • seeing something from a new perspective
  • photography
  • health
  • resurrection
  • love--in all it's array
  • my magic closet
  • seeing someone find the love of their life
  • diversity
  • punk teenagers
  • Christ
  • kigatsuku
  • letting go & making it happen
  • dreams
  • the little things
And there is sooooo much more but you get the idea! I truly am so grateful for so many things!

Monday, March 19, 2007

Annalee & Michelle Take on Boston


Recently my cousin Annalee (and her friend Michelle) came to Boston for their Spring Break. They are both elementary school teachers. Annalee teaches music and Michelle teaches 3rd grade.


Annalee and I are 2nd cousins (our fathers are cousins) but we have known each since well...forever I guess. Our family is very big into reunions and getting together so even though I grew up in rainy Oregon and Annalee grew up in Sunny Arizona we saw eachother through the years.


Annalee and I are a lot alike (I discovered while she was out here that we are even more alike than I thought) and so that made her visit out here so much fun.


The Cuzins!


This was typical after a long day of taking in the sights ...oh and chatting it up and laughing into the wee hours of the night--err morning?


Michelle even smiles in her sleep.



Annalee knew a friend who is part of the Harvard Wives Club and for thier outing this month they decided to go to the MFA. One of the wives got her Masters or PhD? in Art History and so she gave a tour of the MFA filling us all in on the insides scoop.


It was great to go to the MFA again-it has been a while. I couldn't help but think as we were all walking around and looking at amazing art that the most beautiful art was the wife walking around with us that was pregnant. What a masterpiece God created. A mother incubating her unborn child. It just made me smile.

Here's Annalee and Michelle taking a rest...these girls packed it all in. I couldn't believe how much they saw of Boston in so little time.


This is Michelle plotting out their trip to Vermont to see the birthplace of Joseph Smith and the visitor's center there.


Oh Annalee! Thanks for all the chats, the late night laughs, and for making me feel like someone really does understand! I love you girl!

Good Times with Good Friends

One of my oldest friends came into town with his adorable daughter Savannah (4). Joey Leavitt and I became friends when both our families moved to Gresham, OR. I was in 7th grade and he was in 8th. He was afraid of his shadow and I well...you know...quite the ham. So it worked for us. Here we are 15 years later and still friends.


Savannah and I had a blast bouncing on the bed and laughing (that's about as much noise as I got out of her all night--man that quiet gene is something that doesn't exist in my family--sorry mom.)


If you look really closely inside Savannah's pink shoe you will see a horse. Also stuffed inside that shoe are 6 other small horsies. When I found out that Joey and Savannah were going to come visit I went to get some food and remembered that Savannah loves horses (I also loved horses as a kid.) Although Savannah never uttered a word the entire time she was at my house Joey assured me that she like the horses.


Savannah and Joey eating Pizza and drinking Chocolate Milk. It was great to talk to Joey and catch up on all that's been going on for the past few years. It's great to have those friends you know you'll have for life-the kind where you may not see or talk to them for a long time--but when you finally do--you just pick it up where you left off last time.

Joey, his lovely wife Shannon, and their children: Savannah, Halen, and a little soon to be will be moving to Ahman (sp?) (Jordon) soon. Good luck and God bless to the Leavitt Family!

Friday, March 16, 2007

Like a Snow Globe on Drugs

So looking out over my cubicle to the window outside it looks mad crazy. The snow is blowing around like a snow globe on drugs and it's wicked wet outside. I decided to take a short walk break to see just how bad it really is and discovered (soaking wet) that it is just as bad on the ground as it looks on the 5th floor. I love this crazy New England weather!

Shut Down

Last night after work I wasn't feeling well...nothing I could really pin point so I changed out of my work clothes, took a shower, got into a pair of jeans and sweatshirt, and tried to write a blog. I still wasn't feeling well so I laid down on my bed and then next thing I knew it was 10:00 am today! Yikes!

There is only one explanation for this total shut down of my body---migraine!---So from past experience my body doesn't deal well with migraines (left eye goes blind, light sensitivity, see spots, throwing up etc.) So there have been a few times that my body just decides to shut down and wait it out. I guess this was one of those times. To be honest I like it this way much better.

So my little nap turned into a 14 hour slumber. I awoke fully clad, contacts stuck to my corneas, shoes on my feet, the works. But I feel much better!

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Game Night

Randomly I decided that we needed to have a game night at the Spruce House. So with lots of help from Natalie (man, can she bake!) we pulled it off. Thanks for stopping by, even though it wasn't on the weekend. We had a blast!


Contrary to this picture men did come to game night. Here the gang is playing "Ligretto" (aka:Nertz). Earlier we played a few phases of "Phase 10" and later there would be "Bang." Natalie had made some scrumditillyumpscious treats and the Spruce house came alive!


YES!! Game Night was a success!

(I dedicate this picture blog to a certain someone who said I don't post enough pictures)

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

I HATE Them!

Everyone who has known me for a little while (whether they understand it or not) knows I HATE Sunflowers and anything that has to do with them (sunflower seeds, sunflower oil, etc.) I swear they are everywhere and I can't (for the life of me) get away from them.

The other day turned on the t.v. and actually watched a show w/ commercials for the first time in forever (about 5 years maybe...) and you wouldn't believe what the first commercial I watched was about??? A stupid Sunflower oil commercial for Lays Potato Chips. Now I have never like potato chips that much I certainly will never be eating Lays Potato Chips with their natural Sunflower oil in them.

Then there's guy whose cubicle is two away from mine at the top of the steps. He's a great guy and coworker etc. Yesterday he got flowers delivered to him from his girlfriend. It was sweet and all but of course there it was a HUGE Sunflower in the middle of the arraignment. I had to seriously stifle my urge to pluck the sick flower from the bouquet and throw it out the window. Instead I just went back to my cubicle and thought about all those Sunflower allergens that would eventually find their way to my cubicle...and sure enough they did.

See I knew it would happen. Every time someone saw his flowers they got close to smell them or look at them and they (unknowingly) became a carrier of pollen. Also I knew that over the night the pollen would float its way over to my cubicle and infest it. All of which is true and happened.

So here I am at work today, sneezing like it's going out of style, and loathing the fact that the Sunflower is still on his desk for all to love and see. I HATE them! Of course there is nothing I can do--don't want to offend my coworker--and the flowers are bound to die soon--right? He'll take them home or throw them away.

Why do I HATE them some of you may ask?? I'm seriously allergic to the lot of them. Back in 2004 I accidentally at a bite of a Sunflower Bagel and ended up puking my guts out for the rest of the day--literally--you know how it feels to have food poisoning--same thing only that was my body's way of getting rid of something I was allergic to. I can't really explain it I just HATE them!

Monday, March 05, 2007

Coffee Break Anyone...?

I'm not a coffee drinker myself but I get asked if I want a coffee or to join others on a coffee break at least once everyday at work. I politely decline or join and get a hot chocolate or something. I really don't know much about coffee and all the gazillion ways you can have it but there's one thing I know about coffee that you can know without ever drinking it...it's HOT!

Case in point:
I was coming back from my lunch break, minding my own business, turning the corner to get on the elevator. At the exact same time there were three men coming around the same corner. I ran smack into one of the men-or did he run into me? The thing is he was holding a Venti (large for those of you like me who don't know the coffee lingo) Coffee something in his hand. So his very hot coffee was not all over the left side of my body. My upper body was okay because I was wearing a jacket, but my legs were not so lucky. The first thing that happened when we collided is that my legs were literally burning. Did I mention that coffee is HOT! so I was jumping up and down with hot -very hot- coffee all over me. The guy was nice and even said, "who had the right of way?" I said I was sorry and he said, "sorry, why are you sorry you're the one who is wearing my coffee...I"m sorry." and so it went for a few awkward moments. There were all these security guards and men in suits around waiting to see what my reaction would be or what I would do. I smiled and proceeded to get in the elevator. After trying to get the coffee out of my pants (to no avail) I went to talk to my supervisor who could smell the coffee and see that my pants were all wet (I wore grey slacks today so there's no hiding the fact that something is spilled all over my left pants leg). My supervisor just laughed and said that it's bound to get better!

Friday, March 02, 2007

The Adventures of K and Her Amazing Morning!

Once upon a rainy day...there was a girl named K and she woke up to the sound of rain beating against her window(K is from Oregon and loves the rain so this was a beautiful way to wake up). She got out of bed, got dressed, and even had time to curl her hair. K grabbed her umbrella and headed out into the pouring rain. She noticed that the street outside her house had become a river so she had to walk on the ice and snow that had taken over the hidden sidewalk. Trying to maneuver her way she happen to find a nice thin sheet of ice to go skating on and ended up completely soaked- once the skating was over and she had fallen- more like crash landed. So K decided she couldn't go to work all wet and went back home to change.

After changing (her hair still managed to be dry and curly) K again walked to the bus stop, umbrella in tow. Once at the bus stop K waited....and waited....and waited (45 min.) By this time K was pretty much soaked and some people were shouting across the street that the bus service was down for the next hour or so.

K was determined to make the most of her morning so she went back home, called her boss to inform her that she would be late to work, and they decided that for the next hour K would work remotely from home. This sounded great to K so she began to sit down to her laptop to get to work--only the Internet was down at K's house--so there would be no working from home.

K read some things from work she'd brought home, made her lunch, and decided it was time to try to get to work again. So she headed out into the rain--only this time it was very windy. K had a difficult time holding her umbrella, lunch, H2O bottle, and purse --while at the same time avoiding the river road and slippery ice patches. Arriving at the bus stop K began to wait....and wait...and...her umbrella sort of broke, her body from tip of head to toe was soaked, and 20 minutes later the bus arrived.

K was relieved to actually be sitting on the bus until she realized that whatever had been dry under her coat was not wet after sitting down. There was a man on the bus that wouldn't stop coughing and the floor of the bus was muddy, wet, and sick. K was ready to get off the bus.

Once on the train K was able to sit down, relax, and even dry off a bit. She began talking to an old man who was drawing another person on the T. Before she knew it K had missed her stop and ended up getting off the T at South Station (her old stomping ground). So K decided to just walk to work. She pulled out her now partially broken umbrella and headed out the door. It only took her 2 steps before she was practically blown away (like the nanny scene in Mary Poppins). Her umbrella-now completely broken- was bundled up in her arm and she decided to take the T back to her stop.

After getting back on the T, walking to work with no umbrella, and finally arriving at work--K realized she had forgotten her Key Card to get into her office. What a morning for K!

Here are just a few of the reasons why I had an amazing morning:
  • Water is very powerful. It can cut into solid objects like nothing else. The steady downpour of rain through the night, morning, and afternoon will get rid of the ice that has been stuck everywhere-especially on the sidewalk outside my house.
  • Rain is very cleansing. It washes away the dirt and pollen and breathes life.
  • A blind man got on the bus and sat next to me. He was smiling and I was grateful to be able to see the pouring the rain.
  • The bus driver said to me (in an Irish accent) while I was getting off the bus, "reminds ya of home don't it?" I'm sure he was referring to his home in Ireland but I had been thinking of my rainy home in Portland and missing it.
  • At the hospital stop (MGH) on the T a lady got on who was bald (she was wearing a scarf and a hospital bracelet). I assume she has cancer. She made me very grateful for my health and my soaking wet mop of hair now pulled back in a messy ponytail.
  • The artist man I sat with for just a few minutes was well worth me missing my stop.
  • So far I've met 3 new employees because I needed them to help me get in and out of the office.

And so although my morning and afternoon could be considered a disaster to many (most people that I told the story to in my office) I'm grateful for the lessons the Lord allowed me to see along the way!