Blue Skies!

I do love a good rainstorm. And we’ve been getting them a lot lately. Today has been sunny and I can see a lot of blue sky. I think all the rainy days have really made me appreciate the sunshine. I took my lunch to the park today and just enjoyed the sun and the green grass and the sound of the birds and the fountain in the pond. It was a really nice way to spend an hour.

 

I have found that life really does go in cycles.  I typically say that I have low motivation for life when I’m having a down cycle.  That about sums it up.  Memorial Day weekend is coming up and if the rain lets up, I’m planning to plant flowers. My gardenia and cactus bloomed in my house, but I need some flowers outside.

 

I want something to look forward to.  And since I love making lists, I decided to make a bucket list for summer. 

Go camping

Plan at least one day hike

Go to the Spiral Jetty

Spend a day at Bear Lake

Go to Minnetonka Cave

Take the kids to an outdoor concert in Park City

Go to the Farmer's Market

If I can get half of these done this summer, I’ll be happy with it. Some of them I’ve wanted to do for years and others I just thought of.

Seattle... Again

Last week I got to go back to Seattle for meetings for work. I flew in a couple hours earlier than I normally would have and met up with my friend Heather and we did a little exploring the night before the meetings started.

We ended up at the EMP museum which has a Star Wars costume exhibit. The geek in me had a blast.

 

 

There were lots of fun costumes to see from the new and old movies.

 

 

Queen Amidala's costumes were especially fun. She had a bunch of them. 



 

 

 

 

Not only did they have Star Wars but they had an exhibit with random stuff from a bunch of sci-fi movies and tv shows.  And another exhibit with costumes and things from fantasy movies.

 

 

For dinner that night, I got to try a pasty, which is a Cornish meat pie type of thing. It was pretty good. 

After the 2 days of meetings, a couple of us took a later flight out on Friday so we spent a little time at Pike's Market, which is always a fun thing to do. We ate breakfast at a place called Biscuit Bitch and it was absolutely delicious. Biscuits and gravy with scambled eggs and bacon on top. I couldn't finish it.

It was kind of cold and rainy and rainy when I got home (but not so cold, thank goodness) but since I like rainy days, it was ok with me. It was a nice week and nice to get away from home for a bit. I'm glad to be sleeping in my own bed again though.



Freak Snow Storm

We seem to get snow at least once during the springtime. I love it! Probably because I know it won't last and will be gone by the weekend. I love sunshine and blue skies, but there's just something about a storm (rain or snow, I'm not picky) that just makes me happy.

The view from my front window this morning:

And the view from my back window:

And it's still coming down. No signs of stopping yet. Too bad I can't be home with cocoa and a good book.

Today

I took a half day off today. My nephew and nieces are on spring break so my sister and I took them to see Cinderella. I liked it. It was a cute movie.  My 6 year old niece told her mom they have to buy it. She's still at that age where princesses are magical and it's fun to watch, even if I do get a little tired of whatever princess she is currently wanting to be. 

But even at my age, I still love a fairy tale. There really is something kind of magical about them. And we all need something magical we can believe in at times, I think. 

Trying to Think Positive

Mondays are just not my day. And the Monday after the time change, I don’t even try to be in a good mood. It just sucks. So I’m trying to concentrate on good things.

I have a job, I have a home.
My car is running.
The sun is shining.
I am surrounded by amazing people at work and home and at church.
I had homemade chocolate chip cookies for breakfast.
I made an excellent dinner yesterday (I love it when I cook things that taste amazing) which gave me leftovers for lunch.
I snuck in one more book after birthday shopping month ended.
I just realized I haven’t changed the clock in my office so it’s actually an hour later!

There are lots of good things if I look around me. I will make it through this day and Tuesdays are always better.

Chocolate Cake Castle



I made my birthday cake again this year. I found the chocolate cake castle on Pinterest and thought it would be fun to try. My niece helped me build the towers. 

 

 



 

 

The picture online used Hershey's small candy bars but I don't really like Hershey's so I went with some Andes mints. I should say the cake is Hershey's Ultimate Chocolate Cake from their website. I don't like Hershey's candy bars (there's just better tasting and less waxy out there, IMO) but they do have some good recipes. This was great tasting cake, if I do say so myself. 



We cut into it and pretended it was a fort that got destroyed in a battle. I'm going to say it might not look like the picture from Pinterest, but it's pretty darn close. We're calling this one a Pinterest win.

It's not quite my birthday yet, but this was the family celebration. Mom made Navajo tacos for dinner, which is one of my favorite things to eat. Then we had cake and ice cream. I've been sick and still am not feeling great but it was a good time with the family.

Birthday Shopping

I have a tradition of buying myself a birthday present. I get a few gifts from my family but I don't expect them and don't want them to spend their money on me, not really. I can spend money on myself. And I do. My tradition has morphed into "birthday month". I buy myself stuff all month and call it a birthday present. Then when February is over, I'm back to normal shopping (meaning I buy books constantly, and other stuff only when I need it or when it's on sale or when I can use a little "retail therapy"). Ha ha... I probably shop a lot come to think of it. Anyway, it is Birthday Shopping month and I took the day off and went shopping. I needed a break from work anyway. 

It was a fantastic day. I woke up without an alarm clock and spent the day doing whatever and wandering through a lot of stores. I ended up with some stuff from Sephora, a couple books, a new pair of shoes, a new shirt,  and some random stuff for around my house. Then I headed home, made dinner and am now watching Guardians of the Galaxy for the third time in 3 days (I'm getting my money's worth from Amazon instant video). :)  

Anyhow, I've got my birthday shopping done for the month, unless of course, I see something else I might want before the month is over. I had a great day off and going back to work tomorrow doesn't sound as bad as it could. Life is good.