YESTERDAY: BUTTERFLIES AND ART

We're in Florida for the week.  It's actually a work trip for Ryan, but a vacation for me.  Yesterday was our one free day, so we took our cute rental car and zipped all over town.  We started at the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI), where we saw the Flight of the Butterflies in their Dome IMAX theater. It was a beautiful story, with stunning images, but to see it in IMAX (a dome theater, no less) was especially powerful.  After the show we wandered around some of the exhibits: The Amazing You (surprisingly interesting and interactive), and the Bio Works Butterfly Garden (free-flying butterflies!).

Next we went to The Dalí Museum.  This place has a seriously impressive collection, and we loved seeing the range of work he covered beyond surrealism, for which he was most known.   In fact, this modern piece, commonly known as "The Lincoln," is my new favorite of his works.  Fun fact: "Gala" was his wife, who posed for him frequently.  Fun fact 2: Our tour guide made sure to mention that this shape of Gala was more of what she looked like as Dalí remembered, rather than literally at the time of posing. :)

The back of the art museum has a garden, including a labyrinth and a large ficus "wish tree," where visitors tie their entry-wristbands to hanging lengths of plastic as they make a wish.  There are different colors for every day of the week, so the effect is that rainbow branches are swaying below the green leaves.  It was quite enchanting, and a lovely way to finish the visit.

Did you notice my growing belly?  ;)

THANK YOU NOTES AND LETTERS FROM CHILDREN

We have these awesome friends from Colorado whom we've known since college.  Since graduating, we've made efforts to see each other either at their place or here, in New Mexico.  They have three little ones under 5, and were here just the other weekend.

Our weekend included a bit of hiking, some breakfast burritos, fruit snacks, the Avenger's (after the little ones went to bed), some guacamole-love, and lots of playing.  Mostly with Strax:

This is an awesome toy that we inherited from Ryan's mom (from his childhood).  The tracks take over a room, and come with battery-powered cars that test your track-building skills.  Our tracks weren't as intense as this kid's, but still impressive for a first try.  The whole weekend was relaxed and fun, and we look forward to spending time with them again.

Then, today I got a surprise in the mail!  They usually send sweet thank-you notes, but this time it was extra special because I had a hand-written letter from the oldest, and a drawing from the second guy.  

The letter even included a joke:

Q: "What do you call a snail on a ship?"

A: A snailor. 

Oh, man.  Day made.  Thanks, you guys.  :)

I'M A FAN OF MADELINE KAHN

Last week after a long touristy day in California I began watching Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles on tv in our hotel room.  Are you familiar with this movie?  It's pretty ridiculous, but I grew up in a house of fans of most Mel Brooks productions.  Well, Madeline Kahn was in quite a few of his films as well as another family favorite, Clue.  After watching her famous performance of "I'm Tired" in the movie, I've been on a performance-video kick of anything she's done.

Anyway, as I've watched different videos, I came across this clip of Madeline on the Carol Burnett Show (love her, too!).  I thought it was charming, and funny.  Enjoy!

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

who:

what:

when:

august 24, 2013

Just wanted to let you in on our good news! 

xo.

BLESSINGS & A PEP TALK

We have a relatively busy weekend ahead of us (cleaning, projects, Groundhog Day party, and a Super Bowl party), and as I've been getting ready for it I've been reflecting on some blessings I have.

I am blessed with amazing family, and thoughtful friends.  I am blessed with a beautiful home and memories to be made.  I am blessed with health and happiness in my self and marriage.  I am a lucky girl.

This video below has exploded all over the interwebs, but I just can't help but smile as I watch it.  I love three points especially:

1. "The world needs to stop being boring.  Boring is easy, but [we're] gooder than that."
2. "If life is a game, aren't we all on the same team?  I mean really, right?  I'm on your team, be on my team."
3. "...But what if there were two paths?  I wanna be on the one that leads to awesome."



What will be your Space Jam?  Have a great weekend!

INTERNET GOODIES + THE WEEKEND

Ah, the weekend is here.  This has been a good and (mostly) productive week.  This weekend will include a lot of prep and painting, as well as a storm door installation, and possibly a mowed lawn (so many dropped leaves!).  I'm also hoping to find my Christmas movies.  There were so many, that I packed them with the Christmas decorations, but I've found the decorations and no movies! It's nice to have someone that I like so much to do this work with.  Having his parents come up to help for a day will be nice, too. :)

These are just some sweet treats (all videos) I found this week:

-The Power of Quiet, an excerpt of Susan Cain's TED talk, The Power of Introverts, with illustration.
-What Would You Do if Money Were No Object?, narrated by Allan Watts
-Big Bang Theory Flash Mob (Ugh.  This song again?  Watch it to the end!)
-Dumb Ways to Die music video - harmless, and funny

Have a great weekend!

video: To Do List by Yaniv Fridman

GETTING IT TOGETHER, AND A MENU

We've just come back from 2.5 weeks in Utah.  First, we stayed in Salt Lake City for ten days (Ryan had a conference), then we spent a weekend in Logan and visited my sister and our old USU campus, before finishing up our time at my mom's in South Jordan for the holiday craziness.

Now that we're home, we've got quite the list of projects to tackle before Christmas.  In an effort to get us back into some kind of routine, I'm going to post my menu for this week.  Planning menus for the week has been a regular thing we've done, though I never posted them, until the last few months.  It turns out that moving, being in a new place that can't be fully unpacked due to remodeling projects, and going out of town for a while will do that to ya. ;)

So, let's get to the menu, shall we?





MONDAY:  Honey Lime Enchiladas, from my friend Jenny

TUESDAY: Leftovers

WEDNESDAY: Steph's Minestrone - from my niece, Stephanie

THURSDAY: Leftovers + Some kind of bread

FRIDAY: Out

SATURDAY: Grilled cheese sandwiches + an Amy's canned soup

Wish me luck, and have a great week!