spring break, the early days

Today was one of the most fun days I have ever had! Before I tell you what I did, I am going to give you a moment to imagine the amazing, fun, wild, crazy day I had... so go on, dream it up...

OK? Is this what you thought of?

Del Mar dog beach, courtesy city-data.com

That's right. Forget all those wild and crazy things you though I did. I was thoroughly entertained by a trip to the dog beach. But trust me, you would be too. In fact, I was far too busy to even take any pictures. It was one of those days where you knew the memories would outrun the pictures by a mile. Starbuck was all over the place: running, jumping, swimming, wrestling, fetching, and climbing. Any activity available to him, he was doing to its fullest.

It's basically the perfect mash-up of two of my favorite things: Starbuck and the beautiful beaches of Southern California.

you can imagine his joy in climbing all over this. (courtesy sandiegoasap.com)

Even better, I was able to spend the day with my friend Christina, and her dog. We were even lucky enough to bring a dear friend's daughter, Piper, along for the day. She got lots of giggles out of Starbuck's crazy hyper state.

I truly felt like a little kid on spring break today. I could have run back and forth across the beach through the waves all. day. long. with my wet'n'wild pooch.

the aftermath of the day. Two salty, sandy, and soon to be well-rested pups

freetime: the attack of the crafter

In the coming weeks, I am going to have way too much free time for my own good. Thanks, Marine Corps, for taking my husband away for 6 weeks to do what I know to be napping and basketball a crap load of hard work. Here's what I did in only 48 hours of him being gone. I can only imagine when he comes home, I will have decoupaged the oven probably.

my new herb garden.

my new centerpiece

my new outfit with clothes i already had

that's it for now, folks!

Reverse Psychology

In case you were wondering, I am finishing my Bachelor's in Psychology at Penn State University... all online. Right now I am taking 13 credits. I have really enjoyed my positive psychology class this semester. Here is a little taste of what it's like.

For my last writing assignment, I had to take the VIA signature strengths test, to learn what my signature strengths were. It consisted of 240 questions. My top 5 signature strengths were:

1. spirituality, sense of purpose, and faith
2. capacity to love and be loved
3. fairness, equity, and justice
4. appreciation of beauty and excellence
5. creativity, ingenuity, and originality

I had to write a paragraph about why I regard these as my top signature strengths.  These assignments are very interesting, as you can tell. They revoke personal responses, so I have no problem writing what I really think.

I regard my top signature strength as my spirituality. It lays the foundation for all my other strengths. My ability to love is only possible with my understanding of my God and Savior’s love for me. His love has communicated to me how my love should look to everyone else I encounter. My understanding of fairness and justice is only due to the fairness and justice that God has set up in the Bible. The Bible is where I learned every person is on this earth because God put them here, and they all should know about God’s love for them. My appreciation of beauty and excellence is only due to my understanding that God created the world, and man was created in His image. I know that my creativity is merely an attribute that God was kind enough to give me, and I feel the need to use it to bring Him glory. I say all that to say all of these strengths of mine are merely a product of the first, my spirituality. 

I am so thankful for this faith-strengthening assignment. It definitely challenges me to make sure I am living my life in a manner that reflects the things I have expressed in this paper.

 

True Dat

Jason's mom came to visit me us. But, I feel like it was all for me. She is super fun, talented, creative, funny, entertaining, energetic, and we have the same interests. There was no stopping us and our fun. She decided she was going to "bring back" the phrase "True Dat". So all week we were saying it. I find myself accidentily saying it now, and being looked at like I am so 1998. That's ok, each time I slip up, I smile at the thought of mom's reaction. If only she knew what she started.

Coronado Island

for Floyd

Love will keep us together

This past weekend, Jason surprised me with a trip to Catalina Island for our second anniversary. If you didn't know, Catalina Island is just about 1.5 hours off the coast of Orange County. And let me tell you, it is a little slice of paradise.

Arriving

Our hotel- Hotel St. Lauren. The 3rd floor room with curtains open is ours

Our room

exploring the pier that evening

The night we got there, we enjoyed exploring the little town of Avalon. You can walk everywhere!

The next day was packed with activities! Morning yoga on the beach, hiking, a bike ride that covered the whole town (which is not as difficult as it sounds), tacos for lunch, and a night out!

Hanging out at the Wrigley Gardens... and yes, it is the same Wrigley as the infamous Cubs!

The peak of our hike

Great View!

the trail up to the gardens

beautiful tile at the gardens

Out for dinner. Jason took me out for seafood, and I followed in my mother's footsteps of NOT being a cheap date... I ordered lobster.

On Sunday, we had until the afternoon to enjoy the island, then our boat was heading back home to reality. We stopped by the island's museum. We walk into the gift shop to see that 50% of it is full of... what? Chicago Cubs paraphernalia! You can imagine I was shocked to learn that for about 30 years, the Cubs would travel to Catalina Island for their spring training! Wrigley, who owned the Cubs, also OWNED Catalina Island. Not a bad life, if you ask me. They used to even have an exact replica of Wrigley field on the island. The Cubs' spring training used to be the main event of the island- everyone LOVED it! Whaddya say, Cubbies, lets get back to that tradition!

napping on the beach

naps and reading. beach bums

Jason's dream hobby

and the sun sets, once again, on our lovely trip home

We have had a magnificent second year of marriage together. God has been just too good to us. His mercies never fail! I have made great steps in finishing my bachelor's, have a crazy wonderful job that will provide me with experience for my degree, a move to California, ALWAYS having the things we need, love, laughter, a beautiful home, healthy family, a fantastic church, and so much more. I can't believe how much we have been blessed with in just the last year of marriage. Here's to happy memories, and looking forward to the adventure to come!

spring in my step

Here are some little snippets of life's little pleasures lately.

homework at the pool? Don't mind if I do.

my new bike. well, new to me. This shot was an accident.

nephew Ralston. wants to grow up to be just like uncle J! He will be 1 in April.

Life is so good. God always gives blessings. I just hope I remember to take the time and thank Him for them.

There's a first for everything

I have finally, finally begun making my very first quilt. It's not really a quilt, because I am not actually piecing different fabrics together. But it is a quilt in the fact that I am sewing mostly straight lines over all the blanket. I am following this awesome tutorial I found on the wonderful, marvelous pinterest. It's about time, considering this was one of my 2011 2012 New Year's resolutions. Better late than never, right? Here are some snapshots of the process so far.

AKA "sewing machine for dummies". I'm a fan though. This baby is like the little engine that could

they are almost straight!

my very first time running out of a spool! How exciting.

Here's to hoping that the finished product will be posted up here sooner rather than later...!