I’ve been sick with a cold the entire time we’ve been here in Sioux Falls but I still managed to take a few pictures. I thought I would share a few today. I’ll be back later with more shots and words. I just don’t have much for energy or motivation for more than this right now. Stupid cold!
Month: September 2011
Herb Garden
I was not exactly blessed with a green thumb. But I have been blessed with a streak of stubbornness that forces allows me to keep trying at something that I seem to have little natural knack for. Which brings me to my latest attempt at growing some form of plant life; a window herb garden. My dad brought me some herbs from his garden (he failed to hand down his agricultural abilities I’m afraid), and once again, I decided “challenge accepted.” So off to Menards I went to pick up some pots, chalkboard paint, and soil. I spray painted my little heart out (the one part of this project that was sure to be successful) so I now have 5 “chalkboard pots” that I can write the herb name on. I’m hoping that by adding a bit of craftiness to this project I will increase my chances of success. So here they are!
I have thyme, basil, oregano, sage and parsley. If things go well, I’m thinking about adding cilantro. But lets not get too carried away yet…
Sioux Falls Rewind
We are back on the road today, headed out to South Dakota. So I thought I’d share some of my favorite pictures from our last trip to Sioux Falls since I didn’t have my blog back then. It was an extra photo heavy trip since we visited the Sioux Falls Zoo while we were there, which was way better than I ever expected! Baby rhino. Need I say more?
Still having a hard time figuring out how to size my pictures right for the blog so please excuse the less than crisp photos!
The Sunday View
365 Days Later
365 days ago I felt like I was standing on the edge of a cliff, about to leap off into a new life. In a way, I was correct. It just wasn’t the life I was expecting.
365 days ago I had just started my “retirement.”
365 days ago I was preparing to start Soliris, with a confidence that my relatively asymptomatic disease would become even more asymptomatic, that my counts would be stable or improve, and that I would be healthier than ever.
365 days ago I was excited to start a family, and was filled with hope that a baby was just around the corner for us.
365 days ago I was ecstatic to take 6th place at Champ Show with Lily, but a little sad because I thought it was likely the end of me showing and riding her for awhile because of our baby plans.
The past 365 days have been filled with tears, but also with laughter and happiness. There have been struggles that I never anticipated, life changes that have been challenging to say the least. But the days have also been filled with learning that sometimes on the other side of struggle lies something that is just as good as what you had to let go of. They have been some of the hardest days of my life, but they have made me stronger, they have made me who I am today, and for that, they have been well worth it. 365 days later, I am changed and have been stretched farther than I knew possible, but I am still smiling, and that is all that matters.
Catching Up
It’s amazing how quickly this little blog has become a part of my daily life. I’ve been away for 2 days but I feel like I’ve been away forever! Anyways, time to catch up. First up, the 30 Day Photo Challenge. Day 18: In My Bag. 
This one was kind of fun as a snapshot of my daily life. Not so great from a photography standpoint but it definitely shows my habits. First off, let me just say that I love my purse and wallet. LOVE. And I’m not a purse and wallet kind of gal so that’s saying a lot. As for in my purse, you will find chapstick, gauze and bandaids (with platelets as low as mine, one never knows when a leak will sprout and refuse to stop), sunblock (I did have melanoma this year…), a notebook and pen, kleenex, a bottle of headache pills (I get them regularly unfortunately), and a little pouch I sewed that holds my earbuds for my ipod and phone. Oh the randomness.
Day 19: Where I Slept
Could a picture of where I slept ever be complete without the munchkin? I think not.
Day 20: What I Read
I’m just starting Bossypants but so far I have to say it is hilarious!!! I love Tina Fey’s sense of humor.
Day 21: Pretty Pattern
I know it’s not really a pattern, but to be honest I wasn’t terribly sure what to do with this one.
Day 22: Trees
The trees are just starting to change colors around here.
And here are a few extra pictures I took while out and about looking for photos for the challenge.
I swear he was posing.
My favorite photo subject 🙂
And now for some daily life updates:
* My horse got kicked on Sunday and is now on the disabled list, right in time to miss out on the big last of the year horse show. I’m pretty bummed out to be missing it but my biggest concern is for her to recover quickly. The injury is actually one that she got over the summer, didn’t properly heal, and then got reinjured. It’s deep and near a joint so we are taking extra special care of it! This means more playing vet, administering meds, and flushing out the wound. The tough side of horse ownership. But it’s well worth it!
* Fall arrived in Minnesota last Wed. We went from 90 degrees on Sunday to widespread freezing on Wed. Doesn’t matter that I’ve lived in this state my whole life, I will never get used to these crazy weather changes! We have had some lovely fall days though which have been divine.
*After taking a cooking hiatus for the summer (J does most of the summer cooking on the grill) I returned to the kitchen yesterday. It felt marvelous. I made a big birthday meal for a friend’s birthday, complete with my secret family recipe chocolate cake. K, it’s not totally a secret but it is pretty special.
This is how a paper crafter with absolutely zero cake decorating skills makes a birthday cake.
* I am still feeling super tired. I guess I’m just having a PNH week or two. I am lucky in that I don’t feel the effects of the disease very often. Weeks like this make me really appreciate how much other people are going through and how fortunate I am. This is not my normal and I am able to sleep as much as I need to for the most part. That is a lot more than many PNH patients can say and so I count my blessings.
* I am thoroughly enjoying the return of my shows and the arrival of some new shows I think I am going to love. Season premiers are a lot like the first day back at school. I always feel like I’m reconnecting with old friends. Yes, I am a dork. We’ve established this already. Some of my favorites include How I Met Your Mother, Parenthood, Raising Hope, Modern Family, Big Bang Theory and Parks & Recreation. The jury’s still out on Greys. Wasn’t loving it too much last year. As for new shows, I’m thinking 2 Broke Girls, Up all Night, The New Girl, and Terra Nova will be joining the list. I know it sounds like all I do is watch tv but in my defense, we have a dvr so there’s no commercials, and J and I love to snuggle up on the couch at the end of the day and watch a little tv to unwind together. Having good shows means we aren’t visiting the redbox everyday.
* I am working on figuring out the right way to resize my photos so they aren’t huge on here or blurry. It might take me a bit to get it right so bear with me!
Well, I suppose that’s enough rambling for one post! I’m out!
More Favorite Words
All quotes from Pinterest
Happy Birthday Kelly!!!
Happy birthday to my bff Kelly!!! We have been best friends since we were 12 and started riding horses together at the same barn that we still ride at today.
We have been through everything together. New horses, lost horses, break-ups and break outs, bad hair, bad clothes, high school, college, boys, marriage, lots of crying and even more laughter.
We’ve shown horses together for years, sometimes together, sometimes one of us showing while the other show moms (for you non-horse people, show moms play a vital role in the keeping of sanity). 
These days, Kelly acts as my show mom at most shows and I don’t know how I’d do without her. As a side note, please immediately forget the awesome floodwater jeans in the above picture. I have no words…
We started out our friendship as two girls who loved horses, spent most of our time at the barn together, and the rest of our time at home on the phone with each other. These days, we are both married to great guys who also love each other (could it really be any other way???).
And we still spend a large part of our time at the barn riding together followed by time at home on the phone. 
She is the best friend I could ever ask for. She has been right by my side through thick and thin, always there for me whatever I may need. I can talk to her about anything and it means more to me than I could ever say. 
We’ve both had a tough year but together we’ve made it through it all, standing by each other’s side through some really hard times, and we’ve each come out stronger than ever. I don’t know how I would have made it through without her. I love you Kel! I hope you have a totally amazing birthday! Although obviously it won’t be as amazing as the dinner I’ll be making you on Monday 😉
Scrappy Update
Like I said the other day, my creativity has been a bit absent lately. But I have done a few things lately, so I thought I would share. First up, a little birthday treat for a friend.
And some more hand embroidered tags I made Amy Tan style. I just penciled the words and then embroidered over it.
A couple layouts. The first one with pictures from our date night at the King Tut exhibit. 
And second, a layout with some pictures from our family vacation up north last May. Fun fact about these pictures; they are from our hike to Devils Kettle which is a big waterfall north of Grand Marais and no one knows where the water at the bottom of the falls goes. They assume into Lake Superior but they’ve sent dye and items down into it and they’ve never been able to find anything. Kinda crazy, huh?
And here are a few pictures of how my 30 Day Photo Challenge minibook is coming along.
Bookworm Update: The Shack
Mackenzie Allen Philips’ youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation, and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his “Great Sadness,” Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack’s world forever. -Description from Goodreads
My mom bought me this book, and to be honest, I was a bit skeptical. Like I’ve said before, I am a bit of a book snob and this didn’t exactly fall in my normal book criteria. But I ended up really loving it, not from a literary standpoint, but from a “made me think” standpoint. A quick google search will bring up the controversy that surrounds this book (I actually didn’t realize it was such a hot topic while I was reading it and I’m really not interested in getting into all of that here) but personally, I think Young did a great job with some really tough topics. One of the major points of controversy surrounding the book is in regards to the presentation of the trinity. Personally, I feel like it was the first time I ever felt able to wrap my mind around the whole idea of God, Jesus, and the holy spirit. By turning each into a character in the book, I felt more able to understand each one’s role in our lives. Another thing that I really loved about the book is that it made it easier to understand what God’s love for us looks like. I understand that some may argue that this book is not a correct depiction of God or his love, but to me, it really hit home and made things feel more relateable.
What I loved most about this book though was the way it handled the idea of bad things happening in people’s lives and what God’s role in that is. Hands down, this is the number one issue people bring up whenever people talk to me about my faith. I believe that God never promised that bad things wouldn’t happen. That bad things happen because we live in a world where every person has the right to choose what to do each day. Some people choose to do bad things that hurt others, things that can ripple out much farther than we may ever see. But God did promise that if we trust him, he will use those bad things for good, and he will give us the strength to make it through them. I feel like this book did an amazing job of describing that through a story. Here are some of my favorite passages from the book.
“There are millions of reasons to allow pain and hurt and suffering rather than to eradicate them, but most of those reasons can be understood only within each person’s story. I am not evil. You are the ones who embrace fear and pain and power and rights so readily in your relationships. But your choices are also not stronger than my purposes, and I will use every choice you make for the ultimate good and most loving outcome”
“Just because I work incredible good out of unspeakable tragedies doesn’t mean I orchestrate the tragedies. Don’t ever assume that my using something means I caused it or that I needed it to accomplish my purposes. That will only lead you to false notions about me. Grace doesn’t depend on suffering to exist, but where there is suffering you will find grace in many facets and colors.”
“All evil flows from independence, and independence is your choice. If I were to simply revoke all the choices of independence, the world as you know it would cease to exist and love would have no meaning. This world is not a playground where I keep all my children free from evil. Evil is the chaos of this age that you brought to me, but it will not have the final say. Now it touches everyone I love, those who follow me and those who don’t. If I take away the consequences of people’s choices, I destroy the possibility of love. Love that is forced is no love at all.”
While reading The Shack, I’ve also been reading a book called Falling to Grace. The two of them ended up pairing so well that you would have thought it was planned. Hmmm… More on that later.
Just Us 