Complicated Simplicity

remember this (no. 15)...

• on sunday we had our first week of sunday school (after a break in the summer). i'm going to be helping with the children's class, and am looking forward to getting back into it. i really miss teaching children. :-) we didn't have anyone the first week, so we're giving it a couple more weeks to see if anyone comes. it's all good either way.
• i went to the ladies brunch on sunday afternoon. this is progress for me. ha! seriously though, i have some major social anxiety (and i'm super introverted-like to the extreme), and i tend to have a poor view of women's things. because, let's face it, sometimes they are super lame (and i'm a tomboy-i always have been and always will be more comfortable hanging out with the guys doing guy things). but, paul had his meeting so i had no reason not to go. and i actually enjoyed myself. it wasn't lame at all and it was a good time. i even sat at a table with people i don't know very well (well, i don't know anyone all that well, but i sat with people i have rarely spoken to). big win for me! :-) i know it's so silly, but just getting up the courage and following through is a huge victory for me. and i'm going to the women's Bible study that begins this week. i'm even looking forward to it (even if it is making me a bit anxious). :-)
• before p left for michigan, i snagged a groupon for a corn maze on sauvie island. $7 for the two of us (half off). on monday we decided to use it and headed off to the island. it was a lot of fun. p kept trying to purposefully get us lost so it would take longer to get out. :-) it was the first time we've been in a maze with live corn (still on the stalk)-in the midwest the corn has been picked and the stalks are dead in the corn mazes. after we conquered the maze, we drove around the island. it was the perfect day even if it was grey and sprinkly a bit.
• on wednesday i had a super major headache. enough said.
• thursday we took a couple from church to dinner. peter and ivy just got married this year, and ivy is brand new to the area. they are the most adorable couple and it was such an amazing time to talk and eat and get to know them a little better. :-) and our pizza was unbelievable!
• all in all it was a pretty great week. the weather has been beautiful and it's been great to get back into the normal routine. i'm looking forward to this next season. autumn is my favorite and it's already looking like it's going to be an awesome one! :-)

how was your week?

remember this (no. 15)...

• on sunday we had our first week of sunday school (after a break in the summer). i'm going to be helping with the children's class, and am looking forward to getting back into it. i really miss teaching children. :-) we didn't have anyone the first week, so we're giving it a couple more weeks to see if anyone comes. it's all good either way.
• i went to the ladies brunch on sunday afternoon. this is progress for me. ha! seriously though, i have some major social anxiety (and i'm super introverted-like to the extreme), and i tend to have a poor view of women's things. because, let's face it, sometimes they are super lame (and i'm a tomboy-i always have been and always will be more comfortable hanging out with the guys doing guy things). but, paul had his meeting so i had no reason not to go. and i actually enjoyed myself. it wasn't lame at all and it was a good time. i even sat at a table with people i don't know very well (well, i don't know anyone all that well, but i sat with people i have rarely spoken to). big win for me! :-) i know it's so silly, but just getting up the courage and following through is a huge victory for me. and i'm going to the women's Bible study that begins this week. i'm even looking forward to it (even if it is making me a bit anxious). :-)
• before p left for michigan, i snagged a groupon for a corn maze on sauvie island. $7 for the two of us (half off). on monday we decided to use it and headed off to the island. it was a lot of fun. p kept trying to purposefully get us lost so it would take longer to get out. :-) it was the first time we've been in a maze with live corn (still on the stalk)-in the midwest the corn has been picked and the stalks are dead in the corn mazes. after we conquered the maze, we drove around the island. it was the perfect day even if it was grey and sprinkly a bit.
• on wednesday i had a super major headache. enough said.
• thursday we took a couple from church to dinner. peter and ivy just got married this year, and ivy is brand new to the area. they are the most adorable couple and it was such an amazing time to talk and eat and get to know them a little better. :-) and our pizza was unbelievable!
• all in all it was a pretty great week. the weather has been beautiful and it's been great to get back into the normal routine. i'm looking forward to this next season. autumn is my favorite and it's already looking like it's going to be an awesome one! :-)

how was your week?

remember this (no. 14)

• another super hot week here in PDX. heat + me do not get along very well. it makes me feel ill all the time. lots of headaches (especially at night) and queasy. not good for someone who is trying to get good exercise in.
• we were told if we extended our lease, our rent would stay the same. p said e-mail the new lease on over. a few minutes later they called him back saying "nope. your rent will be $50 more regardless of whether you sign a lease or stay on with month-to-month." crazy. so, yeah. our rent is increasing. by a lot. which is a big deal for us. but i've dealt with it and i am not going to worry. "be anxious for nothing" is my constant mantra these days along with "cast all your cares upon Him". i'm feeling pretty good about it now. but if you want to pray that our landlord has a sudden change of heart, i won't stop you ;-)
• i started season one of The Good Wife and i'm really enjoying it so far. i also have been watching Switched at Birth which is a total "young adult" kind of show that comes on abc family, but i kind of like it. ha!
• i started and finished a book. 13 little blue envelopes. it was a free kindle book. it was a quick and light read, but was decent. i wasn't sure if i would read it all, but i did and actually want to read the sequel.
• i started reading the selected works of t.s. spivet and i really like it so far. i read a chapter or so at night before bed. :-)
• i got a call from my niece-in-law wednesday asking where my parents were. my sister was taking her and her two girls back to maryland and took a side trip to michigan to surprise my parents for our dad's birthday. they were surprised and i guess they all had a good time. i'm so glad they stopped in, i know it made my mom and dad's day.
• my dad turned 71. it's incredibly weird to think that he is in his 70s.
• today (friday, september 09, 2011) i got my oregon driver's license. i had not driven for seven months b/c my license expired in february. seriously, paul has driven everywhere since then. with his trip coming up next week, i kind of needed it to get around so i went and took (and passed with 93%!!) my test and got my license!!! yay! i'm officially an oregonian now! :-)
• i picked up supplies for christmas presents and got started. i have one done and i wish, wish, wish, WISH that i could show you a photo, but i can't until after christmas. i LOVE how it turned out. hoping to get them all finished in the next couple of weeks and then work on kbird's birthday present. i'd like to have hers done by november so i can start on little bee's.
• paul went to/helped with set-up and tear-down the Spurgeon Fellowship at the school and really enjoyed it. love that he gets opportunities like that and that his work works with his schedule so he can attend things like this.
• and that was our week.

 how was your week?

remember this (no. 13)...

the always so lovely, but sometimes elusive Mt. Hood-and the mighty Columbia River in early morning light.

this week

• we took an amazing three day camping trip to the olympic peninsula. so much fun and in such a beautiful place.
• the weather was hot in the day, but still cooled down nicely at night. i can (barely) handle the heat in the day, as long as it cools down for good sleep. :-)
• i started reading the help and have almost completely devoured it. i'll probably finish it in the next day or two.
• p and i finished watching wings together (we watched the entire series over the past couple of months) and started watching Star Trek Enterprise.
• and that's about it, a pretty uneventful week around here (outside of camping). :-)

what was your week like?

remember this (no. 12)...

stuff from this past week

• a little trip to vancouver on monday-just to drive and find some food.
• ended up at a german place for happy hour (ie-our meals were $5/person...totally awesome!).
• then went to a borders to browse their remaining books.
• didn't find anything.
• headed to bethany's house to meet her and tim for some night-time tennis.
• i brought wawa while paul played with them.
• wawa and i went for a walk around the reservoir.
• it was amazing-love looking across the river to portland at night.
• church on wednesday was great.
• jason did a great job.
• paul now helps set up and tear down on wednesdays.
• it makes wednesdays very long (but very wonderful) days.
• i'm having a hard time falling asleep.
• no reason (mind racing or whatnot), i just lay there awake for a couple hours.
• i read right before i go to sleep, and am moving very quickly through my book (song of susannah by stephen king).
• i lost another .7 pounds (making my total 13.5 since June 1!!!).
• we had summerfest at church.
• it turned out awesome.
• we had about 300 people.
• i heard there were some great conversations about the gospel.
• i manned the bouncy house/slide.
• for almost six hours.
• we had only one bloody nose.
• and only a few reminders of "don't push people down the slide" and "don't do that".
• a wawillion reminders of "go up the ladder and get back in line-not up the slide".
• quite a few moms and dads (and interns from church) took a turn in it as well.
• it was super tiring, but super awesome as well.
• church today was amazing as well.
• we got our photo taken by the amazingly talented heather terry (please, check out her site) for the church directory.
• one of our members is moving home to maine (to care for his mom).
• we're going to miss him a lot.
• p and him are pretty good buds.
• we went out to lunch with him and a bunch of people from church (our church is great at feeding people-ha!)
• it was a really good time.
• john asked "what do you do?" i said, "nothing." he said "me too!!! give me a five!!!" it was pretty hilarious.
• p learned some chinese from lih and judy.
• we came home and crashed and relaxed for the rest of our sunday.
• it was a really great week.

and i, of course, took no photos. i really need to get my camera out more and get back into the photo-taking mode!!!

where i've been...

• sick with a cold for three weeks...it was miserable.
• recovering and regaining my strengh for a week.
• enjoying a week long visit with my brother Scott and his wife, Lisa.
• spending time (window) shopping downtown.
• checking out the falls in the Gorge.
• visiting Mt. St. Helens (which we couldn't see because of the fog).
• rafting the White Salmon River.
• collecting treasures on the beach.
• looking for (and finding one single) starfish in the tidepools.
• exploring the Hoyt Arboretum.
• exploring the International Rose Test Garden.
• trying to soak in and get the most out of every single moment.

i'm hoping to hop back on the blog more often, just to be sure to write down the stories of our 2011 summer. to keep track of what we've done for myself and paul and our family.

i'm also gearing up for p's mom's visit. she's arriving next tuesday night and staying for a week. two visits from family within a month!!! very awesome.

i am also needing to cut up some paper so i can put together my summer 2011 album and get my stories down in there as well. i'm hoping to use it as a place to just keep the random bits of paper and stuff I collect as well as the little stories and facts and things that we did. a "light" version of what i hope to keep track of here on my blog.

summer 2011 has been chock full of adventure so far, and it's just getting started.

i'm looking forward to it. :-)

remember this (no. 11)...

taken in the parking lot of Fred Meyer on Sun while waiting for Paul to come out with some Gatorade.

• church on Sunday was amazing, as usual. Love our new little church so much.
• after church we went for a hike at Mt Tabor. It was an amazing day-overcast and a tad chilly, but warm enough and no rain. We hiked around the reservoirs and up to the top. Wawa and Paul both loved it as well. I loved the moss on everything-it's one of my favorite things about living in this area. I can't wait to go up and watch the sun set over the city one of these days.
• the weather warmed back up this week. I slept with the window opened at least a crack most nights and even had the deck door opened for all of one day. Love it.
• i'm still tracking our weather each day on post it notes. Paul loves it and will remind me if I forget. He wishes someone in MI had the time to do it as well so we could compare. :-)
• on monday we had a breakfast date at IHOP. We went to the one out by the airport, which Paul of course loved. It's a really nice area full of stores and restaurants. After breakfast we walked around IKEA and picked up a scrub brush for .99 and some discounted Christmas ornaments (.49/package). Looked at some furniture options (couches, loveseats, futons, daybed w/trundle-my personal choice) for the future maybe.
• after our little date out we got to work reorganizing the kitchen. It is unbelievable how much better it is now. The dishes got moved to a bigger cabinet. The baking dishes and mixing bowls got moved to where the plates and bowls used to be (meaning I can reach them without standing on a chair now). The food is all in the free standing cabinet (which is what it was intended for, I think). The cookbooks got put away above the stove (just like in IL) along with the coffee/tea/hot cocoa stuff. And the mixer and coffee pot are on the top of the microwave cart (the microwave is on the bottom)-which means our counters are almost completely clear except for cutting boards. Love it. It's amazing how a well-organized kitchen actually makes me want to cook a little more.
• I made this soup for dinner this week and we've been eating the leftovers since. It's not the healthiest, but it only requires a few ingredients and is super simple to make. And, it's way super delicious. It's going on the list of things to make when we have company, it was that good.
• I got to the episodes of The X-Files I've never seen before. Wow. I can't even believe that I stopped watching (I think it was on at a bad time-and it was before the era of DVR and hulu). Love them. Love that Paul loves them.
• I'm still loving the Yesterday and Today workshop I'm taking. Last week was an okay week-talking about photos and choosing them, but this week was amazing. We're finally getting into the story telling part and that is what I'm most excited about. I'm hoping to make a little mini-album this week (I don't really do traditional scrapbooking, and while I love Ali's style, I don't want the exact same layout everyone else has, save my photos and words. So, I'm doing my own thing) and I'm hoping to share the stories here. :-)
• A full, full week this week. It was very awesome-I'm totally enamored with 2011 so far. :-)

How was your week?

remember this (no. 10)...

(photo from jan 01 2011)

• we fell asleep on NYE before the new year rang in over here on the west coast (lame, i know). fireworks woke us up just before midnight, so we got to ring in the new year!!! and wawa was scared out of his wits and spent the night shaking in his fur.
• paul worked the graveyard shift on new year's day, and got home at 7am on sunday. neither of us liked it very much.
• we watched the movie Salt and both really liked it.
• there were a couple of really bright and clear days and the mountains looked like they were in hi-def. amazing.
• we finally made it across the border into washington! we explored fort vancouver and the free audio tour was pretty cool. we didn't get beyond the fort, and hope to make it back there again sometime.
• we wanted to get a national parks pass while at the fort, but they didn't have the 2011 ones in yet. so, it will wait until our next trip to a national park.
• the week started out pretty cold for here, but it warmed back up to the 40s the past couple of days.
• the air has been smelling so amazingly good the past few mornings.
• p came home from work with a sore throat one afternoon. he drank some juice, took a nap, gargled some salt water, took some aleve and drank some coffee with honey (because he doesn't like hot tea) and was feeling better by evening.
• we finished reading Mockingjay together. p hated the ending. he hates it when sad things happen (i thought the book was brilliant-including the ending).
• we stayed up late on thursday night just talking and remembering. and then slept in on friday (p didn't have to be at work until 1) cuddling with the waby.
• it was a very good start to the new year! so far 2011 gets an A+ :-)

remember this (no. 09)...

Paul and Wa's first photo of 2011

• Christmas was awesome. We skyped with almost all of our family (and talked to the others-my brothers) and were totally tuckered out after, but it was so worth it. It was seriously the best Christmas we have ever had-super relaxing and full of good food and family. We even managed a Skype Pinochle game with Paul's mom. :-)
• Ali's Yesterday and Today class started this week, and I'm absolutely loving it so far-more on this later in the week.
• We celebrated New Year's Eve with pizza and sparkling apple juice (organic at that-ha!) and watching some Minute to Win It. Paul read some Mockingjay to me while I wrote out some answers to some reflection questions (about 2010) and then we both fell asleep (before midnight-lame, we know). However, we did wake up to welcome in the New Year because there were fireworks here! We couldn't see them, but we certainly could hear them (and Wawa spent his first hour of 2011 shaking in his fur). Very cool-next year, I'm hoping we can find out where to see them and actually get out and go.
• Our first day of 2011 was quite non-eventful. P is working the graveyard shift tonight, so he's been home all day. We got a lot done (blog posts, photos taken, laundry washed, Madden 2011 Wii played, football/hockey/golf watched) and just took it easy.

Wawa after a long night of shaking because of fireworks.

And one of the first photos of me in 2011-I don't really love photos of myself, and wouldn't say I love this one, but something about it really gets me for some reason.

goodbye//hello...

2010:

• I opened my Etsy shop (and cut a wawillion little cards out for it-I had paper cuts on my thumbs for months).
• Two of my favorite tv shows ended (Ugly Betty and LOST).
• I started Project Life (and stuck with it until we started to pack and move...and then it all fell apart).
• I learned to sew a bit.
• I turned 27, Paul turned 29, Wawa turned 3
• I got a the best haircut of my life.
• We went to the Chicago Botanic Garden.
• We went to Shipshewana with my parents and sisters.
• Paul graduated from ONU!!! And I threw a really sucky party to celebrate on that cold day (no really, it sucked....big time).
• We went to a really rocking graduation party for Paul (thrown by his mom) and slid down a couple of huge inflatable slides a wawillion times.
• We went to a birthday party for Boo and said goodbye to Paul's family.
• We canoed the Pine and said goodbye to my family.
• We moved across the country from Kankakee, IL to Portland, OR with no home or job lined up (and it all worked out).
• We welcomed a new member to our extended family.
• We took 3 trips to the coast, camped 13 nights, stayed in 7 different Motel 6's, drove the Historic Columbia River Hwy, drove around Mt Hood and took the MAX downtown.
• I discovered Sharpie pens, proust, evernote, and google chrome.
• I was sick with a really high fever.
• My sleep schedule got crazy (up all night-sleep all day), and then flipped so I am now a morning person (which I have never been in my life).
• Beauty and the Beast came out of the vault-something I'd been waiting for for a looong time.
• I took Elise's big mini workshop (and learned so much about myself, my style and fell in love with minibooks).
• I started and completed my december daily album.
• We sent the most awesome Christmas cards.
• I created three more minibooks (2011 every..., book of lists, and my 2011 personal mission statement).
• I started project2011 (my list of 2011 goals/intentions).
• I started my 101 project.
• I reopened my Etsy shop.

Overall, it was a really full year. Full of love, changes and lessons. I am so very proud of how far we've come and I absolutely love Oregon and have no regrets about moving here (even if we do miss our families something terrible sometimes).

For me, it was a year of renewal and self-discovery. Emotionally and creatively and in all other aspects. I am so very thankful for all of the good that 2010 brought (and I'm even thankful for the bad because it helped me to grow in ways I didn't even think possible). Farewell 2010-you were so very good to us.

2011:

• I am taking Ali Edwards' Yesterday and Today workshop (I won a spot) and I am so looking forward to it.
• We are going to get this apartment fully organized and functional and finish getting rid of the "stuff" that we don't need/use/want.
• I plan to live it fully and outright, taking advantage of every opportunity I get to grow and explore and adventure and love and create.
• I will have two new great-nieces or nephews. 
• I don't know what else it holds for us, but I know it is going to be wonderful.
• I hope it brings: a baby of our very own (of course), lots of good conversations, involvement in our church, lots of minibooks, growth as individuals, Christians and a family, tons of adventures, and lots and lots of love being spread around. :-)

Welcome 2011, I am so looking forward to the possibilities you hold and the ways you are going to shape and mold me.