THAT was the day

The other day I miscounted how long we've been married and I was convinced I had missed the 6 month mark.  Dave and I tend to celebrate the 6 month/1 year milestones, so I was feeling all sad.  Then I realized that February 21 is really the 6 month mark - phew!

It's fun being newlyweds because we're still processing everything.  I did a fair amount of thinking about the wedding when designing photobooks and cards for Christmas.  But when recovering photos from Dave's phone, I came across this one:

That's pretty much the first thing I did when we got into our room at Cannon Beach on the first day of our honeymoon.  Now THAT was a good day.

Weekend trip to Victoria

I'm a little behind on sharing the few pictures we took on our weekend trip to Victoria, but better late than never!

I've decided this is still cute considering we were in dark, rainy conditions with Dave trying to capture us with his phone camera :)

It was a quick trip, but we enjoyed the escape.  We took the Victoria Clipper and stayed at the Empress hotel this time (que fancy).  The first day there was drizzle, but nothing too major until after dark when we got drenched going to dinner - in part because they had a wait, we contemplated going somewhere else, and then went back.  The next day it was stormy.  On and off hard rain and strong winds.  It made for some amusing photos (one in which it appears I have no eyes):

All in all we really enjoyed our weekend getaway!

My camp

Many of you heard about the camp I wrote and taught in December for my Master's project (to graduate you do a thesis, more coursework/papers, exams, or a project).

While I can't show you the pictures of cute kiddos, I thought I'd share some pictures of the projects we did.  Note that I took my old camera, so sorry they aren't as crisp!

 Plant part puzzles

 Tissue paper flowers

 Build-a-Seed Challenge!  This one is like shotweed - you use the sandpaper to pop the balloon and the penny shoots off, like when you bump into shotweed in the garden and the seeds go flying.

Edible "greenhouses" - here you see a "cloche" style and a covered structure - yum.

Homemade chia pets - they sprout grass "hair"

 Terrariums!  Everyone made their very own terrarium using a recycled soda bottle

I know, don't you wish you were in elementary school and could go to camp and do these awesome projects?!?  I feel that way all the time...I guess that's why I like writing and teaching camps like this! :)

Recovering lost photos from Dave's phone...

...I came across this beauty from the summer.

Goals for 2011

I know, I'm late on the resolution/goal setting for 2011.  The thing is, any goals I set for the year really won't be "official" until the end of March.  I just have to survive until the end of March (and hopefully earn a degree in the process).  I told you about some of the things we're looking forward to, which implied some goals, but real goals are good for me.

They are good because thinking about a post-grad school life with Dave keeps me going.  So, I thought I'd follow the wonderful example of our friends B&D and lay out some goals for the year (or so) ahead.

Exercise

Biking with friends in summer 2008

It's been driving me crazy that I don't have more time for working out right now.  Come March, I really want to focus on my fitness both so I can do all the fun and crazy things I want to do, and also so I feel better about myself.  In the next couple years we really want to do some more major events like the STP, but we'll work up to that...

Some of the things I want to work on are:

• Yoga - it's scary how unflexible I am
• Running - I want to be better at doing a 5k and capable of running a whole 10k
• Do at least 1 duathlon (to support Dave as he does 4 triathlons!)
• Biking (it's time to get back in the saddle) - including at least 1 official half century or longer

Spend quality time outside
Because it makes me feel good.  And I never get enough.  I hope this will include:

• Gardening - focusing on flowers, pumpkins, peas, lettuce, and herbs
• Hiking
• Camping
• Weekend trips around Washington

Read more
Right now all I seem to have time for is school reading.  I miss finishing Book Club books.  And reading, well, ANYTHING else.  In 2008 I read 21 books (almost 8,000 pages - go me!).  In 2009 I wrote down 11, but I don't know that I kept good track - thought it's possible I did and it was lower given wedding planning and starting school!  This year, I look forward to getting lost in some more great stories...

I'm currently working on:

Make things
For me, saying I'm going to learn to make more things is less scary than "crafting."  I have a real problem of feeling intimidated by crafting - in part because I'm a perfectionist, and in part because I think my crafty friends are just so much better at it than me.  And I know they would never want that to stop me, especially because I do like making things (I'm thinking of the friendship bracelets, beaded necklaces, cross stitch patterns, and other art projects of my childhood).  Lucky for me my husband is very good at detail-oriented, tedious tasks, which is a remarkably handy skill for a supportive partner.

Specifically, here are my hopes for this year:

• Learn to knit (I am the proud owner of a knitting book and new needles)
• Acquire a sewing machine and begin to learn the basics
• Make at least a few gifts

Cook more
In part I mean try more recipes, and make things beyond our staples more frequently.  We also want to make more things ourselves instead of buying them - like bread  in our bread machine and dutch oven (which, by the way, makes the BEST bread we've ever had), hot sauce (we have a jar we made in the refrigerator now), etc.  Dave got really excited about this when I bought him:

Oh, and just a little thing...graduate and get a job :)