More pretty flowers

These flowers just make me happy. I filled a vase with them and I cannot stop looking at them!

Pretty flowers all in a row

I love flowers. One day I shall have a home with much acreage and it shall include a flower garden purely for my own joy and happiness. I sometimes dream of owning a flower farm but I am not sure I would be able to give any of the blooms up for sale! Today I had some beautiful flowers that the label says are black eyed Susan's but I am not sure. They don't look like the black eyed Susan's I know and love. I love them whatever their name is. I spent an hour just taking photos of them.  Please to enjoy!

Today I am....

Going to pick these

So I can make another one of these

I love the Pacific NorthWest!

losing my dependence on my smartphone

or how the demise of my iPhone made me question its hold on me!

I was an early adopter of the smartphone. I have always been a geek and tech makes me happy. I absolutely and unequivocally loved my iPhone 4s. It was soldered to my hand. I saw no reason to upgrade to a 5 as I loved my 4s that much. My husband upgraded to a Galaxy S3 or 4 or some such thing and instead of being envious (which is what I expected to feel), I just smiled and held my iPhone closer. She fit me like a glove and was everything I wanted or needed in a phone.

I am a clumsy person by nature. I try to be graceful but it is not happening. Consequently, I dropped my phone on more than 20 occasions. Apart from a little dent on the corner, she was fine and kept going. Imagine my surprise when I dropped my phone just about an inch from a counter to the trash can and upon picking it up, saw the screen was cracked and badly damaged (picture above). Still she worked! So I continued to use her, trying to avoid the glass splinters that were inevitable! Her complete demise was at my hands. Fo reasons I cannot fathom, I decided to take my shattered glass having iPhone with me when I learned the fine art of stand up paddle boarding! It did not end well. It was the final outrage for my poor phone!

I am due for an upgrade so I can take my pick from all that apple and samsung has to offer but I have yet to make a decision. I know Apple is widely rumored to be releasing a new phone sometime within the next two months so I have decided to hold off on a decision until then. In the meantime I am using an old (and I mean OLD) droid that I had sitting in my kitchen drawer. It is absolute tedium trying to use this phone but something kinda cool has happened. I have got back quite a few hours of the day along with a new interest in the world around me.

As I walk around running errands or doing the minutia of the day I have found myself observing others and I see all the things I used to do. I have to tell you, they annoy me. Nobody makes eye contact as they walk around. People are oblivious to others as the walk with their heads down focusing on the little screens in their hands. I have had to dodge duck and dive out of the way of some of the people. They step off curbs into ongoing traffic with no acknowledgement of danger! It is head shaking. On a more personal note, I sit in a lot of therapy waiting rooms with my daughter and I usually let her do her thing while I check facebook or twitter or whatever. Now, I actually interact with her again and it is eye opening in such a great way

Do I think when I get my new phone that I will go back to my old ways? Yes, probably, but I hope to at least remember to stop and look at the real world occasionally. It is way better than anything you may see on that little 4 or 5 inch screen.

Stand up paddle board

I have wanted to try this for so long. Weight gain and a little loss of confidence meant I put it off for way too long.  A few weeks ago, I finally said screw weight gain, I am doing it.  One of the benefits of being a military spouse is that we have MWR (morale, welfare and recreation). This is set up to help with quality of life for military members and their families. I signed up for the one day course. This involved an hour of instruction at the facility before driving to a local body of water and getting in the water. 

I absolutely loved it.  I started by kneeling on the board until I felt comfortable enough to try standing up. I stood up and promptly took a nice dip into some brisk Pacific Northwest Puget Sound water! Up again and into the drink again. Finally I mastered it and it was fun time. I could feel muscles working that I had forgotten existed.  A fantastic way to spend a Sunday. I can't wait to get back out and try again.

There was only one real problem.  I decided to take my phone and take photos of my friends who were taking the course with me.  I got some great shots and I would love to share them but unfortunately my waterproof case proved to not be able to handle the amount of time in saltwater it was forced to endure. RIP my beautiful iPhone - I miss you so much. I have decided to not replace it yet as I know a new model is due soon. I am using an old serviceable droid that I had sitting in a drawer - it is slow as molasses but it works!

Bon Appetite magazine!

I am a long time subscriber to this magazine. It is always a welcome sight seeing an issue waiting in the mailbox. For a long time, most issues required little more than a flip through and sometimes I would flag a recipe or two that I thought I would make at some point. However, the July 2013 issue is outstanding.  Not only did I flag many pages, but I have actually made many recipes from the issue already.  Some, I am looking at you turkey spinach burger, have been made more than once!  An exceptional issue of a great magazine. Adam Rapaport has done an amazing job since taking of as editor. The magazine is fresh and exciting again and somehow more accessible. The Jack Johnson article was fantastic and I think my crush on Eric Ripert somehow intensified!  

These turkey burger have no business being as good as they are. So simple, so easy and just am amazing flavor and juiciness that has my family asking for more.  You can find the recipe here. Try it, you won't regret it!

and do not get me started on how good these zucchini fritters are!

If you have not picked up a copy of the July issue yet, hurry! You won't regret it

Crayon being helpful!

Thank you Crayola. You sure make my sorting things by color a whole lot easier!

78c at Walmart = a very happy lady!

To Do list

This week I would like to



Sort out and organise my garage


Sort out my daughters closet


Sort out my sons closet


Get back on my menu planning kick - used to be a Sunday ritual and I think we ate better for it and I was a lot less frazzled during the week!


Take a bike ride every night - this is something I have been doing the past few weeks. I am trying to get into a fitter place and bike riding is my current thing! Need to do the consistent 6 mile route for a week then step up to 10 miles - eep!



We shall see how it goes!

Well Hello!

Life begins at forty! I heard that growing up a lot. Then I heard 40 is the new 30. Now 50 is the new 30 which makes 40 the new 20? I don't know anymore. I just know that age as a number seems silly.

I know so many women in their late 30's who look nothing like the 40 I grew up fearing! 20 year old women look 40, 12 year old girls dressing older than me, mutton dressed as lamb. It goes on and on, so I am just going to accept that a number does not dictate an age anymore than a dress size determines how much body fat you have. For me, growing up meant growing old. I thought that when I hit a certain age, I would suddenly have wisdom and crave the sensible shoes and pretty cardigans I fondly remember my mother wearing. However as the calendar years changed and my age crept up, I never felt any different. I always felt like a little kid ready to tell juvenile jokes and try the latest sports fad. I would worry that some chip was missing in my circuit board but after a few years of trying, I realise that being a 12 year old boy trapped in a middle aged woman is not so bad. I get the best of all worlds.

I am silly, immature and think any movie with Vince Vaughn and/or Will Ferrel is going to be funny yet I still enjoy the fine arts and European sensibilities I had instilled in me growing up. I intend to use this space to keep track of the many sides of me and the many ages of me. I am neither old nor young, fat nor thin, silly or serious. I am all those things.