today is a good day

1. i got one group project finished (we just have to present)
2. another group project is half way done (we just have to work on our presenting skills)
3. the sun is shining, spring is coming
4. i can start running outside again (with the bridge opened, means more variety)
5. a new grey's is on tonight (even if its a sad one)
6. i am going to start scrapbooking in roughly 5 minutes
7. i am seeing some friends saturday night for some "games" time
8. school is done in 4 more days!
9. finals are done in 20 more days!
10. my mom will be here in 20 more days just as i complete my last final exam!

happy days! :)

a little bit of mumford and a little bit of sons

and iiiiiiii love this song



love

where have i been?

my lack of blogging seems to indicate i have been up to something. but no i have not even been gone. what have i been doing?

• working (a bit more than i usually do)
• running (on a treadmill)
• hot yoga (is back in my life)
• weight training (ugh, but i am doing it)
• organizing my pictures (it really does take a long time)
• watching big love (i can't believe the show is over all ready!)
• hanging out with my wonderful friends (for a fun craft night and brunch)
• hanging out with my wonderful partner (for one failed movie attempt and a successful one)
• preparing for a lab (that acts out scenes of what could happen when we are working in the field)
• and the usual daily life things

so really, not that much but enough to keep me busy enough not to blog. so poor, i know! but summer is coming and i will be the blogs best friend!
love

where does the time go?

it seems like yesterday that i was "complaining" about the semester ahead. now i am sitting here, with all my midterms done and just two group projects to complete. wow. so fast, how it flies. i have one more semester down and this much closer to my goal (SCARY!!). but as i do my readings, tests, and assignments the answers come a lot easier than they used to...probably an indicator that i do know stuff.

i have been really getting into these albums lately. i (almost) have all of my 2009 pictures in an album. so exciting. i have just developed 2010 pictures and their album is on standby. it feels great to finally get some organization to my pictures!

i spent all of sunday cleaning and adding an addition to mark's shelves. it is huge! mark jokes that i am trying to kill him, as it would be quite a big load if that thing ever tip over (don't worry, i checked on the tipping factor). but i love the way it looks and it took a lot of his books (that were scattered everywhere) and put them in a place. i do have to say though, he has a lot of books. but as my mom says, you gotta love a person who reads...(guess the reader in my family?).

not much else going on. i dabble in wedding planning but nothing at all in seriousness. i am still enjoying the engagement phase that just involves thinking and no work is involved. we both have ideas of what we want, we just need a plan to get there. BUT i did buy a book! mark laughed as i bought a book to plan a plan. whatever, i welcome the reading. i know how to plan trips, ride a bike, do svanasana in yoga, and sing every word to la vie boheme but i have no idea how to plan a wedding. hopefully this book will help!

not much else going on. tomorrow is st. patty's day so i must think of a green recipe to make as i had a lot of fun doing it last year with our green milk and green pancakes. and i am getting together with my girlfriends this weekend which should be loads of fun and laughter and talking! 

till next time...
love

i heart you so much glee

this show is so fantastic



love

so how are those goals i set...

so let me reminisce on the goals i am hoping to accomplish this year. let's see the progression... :)

• scrapbooking: how i can i put this nicely? school is evil. ha ha. but to counteract its evilness i have found an album that lets me do a little scrapbooking/photo-journaling but so much simpler (and less time consuming) because it's set up like a photo album. a facebook friend of mine actually liked the person that created it hence how i stumbled upon it. they are right here. i have so far started on 2009 and am already in the month of may. i believe i will cave and do one for 2010. it makes me feel so good to have all my pictures in an album. i started to get into the serious habit of keeping them on my computer and never printing them so i feel like i have accomplished something in just the printing.  BUT i have not given up on scrapbooking in its entirety. as of now i am going to do tiny spreads of favourite pics and keep to scrapbooking my trips. PLUS that wedding album for a lovely friend. i should finish it since, sadly, they have been married for too long and now have a child (sick tracey). she did mention that i should finish it before i get married. sigh. did i mention i will never scrapbook my wedding album?
• travel: well i think you know of my experience thus far. yes i have been a very lucky gal! the plan for the west coast trail is still and it will probably be our vacation for the summer (or maybe the rest of the year). after the last two hikes that we have completed, this has to be easy, right? a friend of ours is on board to go with us (poor girl doesn't know what she is getting into and may actually regret being part of our bridal party after this, he he).
• reading: i am still reading "between a rock and a hard place". nearing the end though and i have to say, he is one graphic writer. OUCH that must have hurt. this was actually a book i started three years ago but (obviously) didn't finish. i have a couple of those lying around so i am working on finishing them up. the next one is "caught inside: a surfer's year on the california coast".
• take more photos: i have been doing this but kind of falling off the map a bit because frankly some of our day to day life is really not photo worthy. i still am trying but will see how far i keep it up (or shut it down all together). i have to say though, having my camera all the time does make for awesome photo opportunities when needed!
• eating healthy: another reason i shouldn't have this. if you look at it you will probably see how i sometimes don't eat so healthy. but i can't help it, chocolate is my ultimate downfall! :) BUT i can officially say i have yet to step inside a mcdonald's and it is march 8th. i can at least give myself some credit.
• exercise: who would have thought this would take a back-burner? well an accident involving a treadmill, two x-rays to determine its not broken, three weeks to heal the soft tissue damage and humiliation at the idea of returning to the gym has prevented me from working out. i was going to do it today but i HAD to catch up on school work...but i WILL do it tomorrow...i swear!
• AND a new goal to add to the mix: wedding planning. i have already recruited my bridal party to help in the planning (i have very experienced gals when it comes to this). so hopefully it will be okay. BUT i really have no interest in the planning stages at all right now. just enjoying being engaged and thinking of tiny ideas, and the honeymoon travels. planning will commence in the summer, when my mom comes to visit and i have time to do look at places and sample cake, tee hee! :)

so that is it. have a great wednesday!
love

the ending to our wonderous adventure

instead of going into the other things we did, i thought i would make it easier on myself and just do a little picture montage. this was our last full day on the island.

going to the markets

enjoying fruity drinks

visiting the dry cave

another day on the beach, this time snorkeling.

love

the hike

since i talked about half of our trip i feel like i should include the other bits. probably the most interesting part of our trip was the hike. i have described it already but it really was tough. the north coast trail was the hardest i have done thus far but this was a different kind of difficult. many inclines, tremendous heat and humidity played huge factors when we were trekking along. not to mention some fear factor bits when you look over the edge and see the steep declines right in front of you. what can i say, we worked hard.

the beginning of the trail. blue skies beautiful day

crazy roots on crazy trees

look at that ocean...sigh.

smiles. just passed approximately 3miles

due to the heat we stopped at many creeks just to cool off. at one said creek my camera happened to pop out of its waterproof case and take a dive into the refreshing water (oh the irony). needless to say i took that hard. i had taken 200 pics on the trip thus far and none could be seen in my broken camera. those last 3 miles were rough for me! :) i have since found out that everything was recoverable.

long way down.

the end point was the beginning of our adventure. we passed about 20 "residents" (and we have heard there are close to 50) who have set up camp to live there permanently. they are not living there legally but living there nicely (again, we have heard that people live in this area for roughly 1000$ a year). they plant various seeds and because of the climate things grow with no problems. just us looking we saw arugula, tomatoes, salad greens, limes, plantains, lemons, basil, and oregano BUT apparently there are papayas, mangoes, oranges further up the hill.

included within the residents are the nudists. so many times i wished my friends and family were there just so i could hear the funny witticisms they would say. case in point: getting water from the creek we look over and see a girl perched on a rock playing a ukulele. look over again...completely naked playing her ukulele. seriously it was like we entered the twilight zone and all that was in my head was "age of aquarius". its probably a good thing my camera broke...

one of the more hysterical aspects was how they get food shipped in. this is an 11 mile hike into camp therefore the residents need some supports from other places to bring in food. cut to the motor boat. looking over at the ocean, where professional surfers were surfing for the waves, we see a motor boat jetting into the surf.  next thing you know we see garbage bags being tossed into a wave from just behind its breaking crest and the boat zipping out before the next set could swamp it. INSANE! lol

in terms of us we were both pretty happy for other reasons ;) but it was cool to be immersed in a culture that was so different than the hiking culture.

our camera phones saved the day capturing out last images as we head out.

i don't know how it is possible but i am already dirty before even leaving. lol

love