Revamp!

Wow, in the (shockingly!) nine months since I last posted so much has happened. And dang if I have nothing to show for it! Well, I hope to change that soon as I truly want to use this as a place to capture my memories - memories which I sadly forget all too easily!

I've changed too in some ways. I'm still madly in love with Jesus, my husband and daughter! I still celebrate the AMAZING friends and family that I have been blessed with! Those things will simply never change - if anything they'll get better every day. But I have become excited about a few things ~

1) I've really come to love veganism! So much so that it's how I eat about 98% of the time! I'm still working on that last 2% but my new mantra in this - and everything really - is "my path is one of progress, not perfection"! A plant-based diet is simply the best for me, both from my passionate love of animals to my desire to regain a healthy lifestyle.

2) I've pulled out all my old scrapbooking and stamping supplies! I'm trying to get those creative juices re-energized by pushing all the doubts of "not good enough", especially measuring myself against others, out. the. door! And into the trash. And off to the landfill where they'll be buried under other trash forever and ever! :-) I'll post cards that I've made so I can look back in one day and see how far I've come!

3) I'm excited about cooking new things, especially in the light of my newfound veganism! I'll also post pictures and recipes that have brought new ideas and yumminess into our lives!

4) I've also started walking again! Each morning before work, I go to Balboa Park and walk. It has been a huge blessing to me. Not only do I get my exercising out of the way (and therefore ditch all of the excuses about why I can't walk after work!) I also get time listening to my Christian music, while walking in one of His most beautiful creations! That sounds like a win-win to me!

5) I'm renewing my enthusiasm for gardening. I still have sooo much to learn and I think most gardeners would say there's always more to learn but honestly isn't it so much fun when something you've planted blooms and grows and then you harvest it for your dinner table? :-)

And finally, I'm back to blogging. I really do need to do it; it's quite therapeutic for me! I honored that anyone would join me here and I look forward to learning more from you every day!

~ Molly :-)

Back to work after vacation...

...but blessed indeed to have work and to love it and my friends and my surroundings!

January 2, 2011

One of my new year's resolutions is to blog more often. Not every day but just more often. And since that was only about 10 times last year, the bar is pretty low. Yay me! :-)

Today is our last day of Christmas vacation. Sigh.... It certainly flew by! And plans that were made for for our last day were altered but still gave us a wonderful day nonetheless. My original plan was to go to Chick-fil-A for lunch and then take Chloe the Wonder Dog to Balboa Park. Ummm, Molly, the Chick-fil-A thing - aren't you a vegetarian?? Yes but they have my absolute favoritest calendar of all, the "offishul cowlendar" - a whole year of cows! I so love cows (one of the reasons I can't eat them) and the calendar just makes me smile. So we drove out to one of only two Chik-fil-A restaurants in San Diego, a good 20 miles from our house and...THEY WERE CLOSED! Sigh...I forgot that they close on Sunday. As a committed Christian, I'm thrilled that they honor the Lord's Day but...oh well!

Plan B - we went to my favorite restaurant, Evolution which is all vegan and blocks from Balboa Park. We ordered our delicious cheese burgers, fries and vegan Ranch dressing and went to the Park for our picnic.

Hmm... The only thing - it was about 44 degrees outside! Brr... So instead of our picnic lunch, we ate in the car.

Chloe was quite patient!

We stopped by and spoke with Mr. Horton, Mr. Martson and Mr. Morse. As founders of Balboa Park, they are quite informative, indeed!

They showed Sarah where dog park is located...

..and even posed for another picture. Such fine men indeed!

This coral tree has almost lost all of it's leaves and flowers. Because we had such a mild summer and Fall, the leaves are taking much longer to leave. :-)

After we were finished, we went to Nate's Off Leash Park in Balboa Park and let Chloe run around. The only thing is, she doesn't run around - she just stands next to us. Then she runs up to strangers and love them to pieces. It's really pretty funny to watch all the crazy dogs all around us and just have Chloe oblivious to them and waiting for the next person to pet her! She's really soft and quite pretty, if I do say so, and she definitely attracts people when we're out with her. She just a really sweet dog who knows only how to love! She's never aggressive or distant or any negative traits (though she does steal food of the table - GRRR!!!) Actually we realized something - Chloe would rather go to a People Park instead of a dog park. If she could find a place where people will pet her and love on her endlessly she'd be in heaven!

The planes fly extremely low over Balboa Park as they descend to Lindbergh Field Airport.

This tree is simply magnificent!

A beautiful view of the Museum of Man.

She jumped up on this table but it was okay!

She loves her Sarah!

Aww...Daddy and Daughter hugs!

And Mommy and Daughter too!

We made it back home just before the rain began. Home safe and sound with my family - what a wonderful way to end the 2nd day of 2011!

Our new windows!

So the windows on our 1949 house are in very sad shape. The panes are extremely thin and, in fact, the window in our bedroom was broken. The only thing holding it together was a pice of tape. The straw that finally broke the camel's back was when we discovered that it was 56 degrees in Sarah's room! We checked to see about having the windows installed as we didn't know how Ryan would find the time to do them himself (he already works two jobs!) The cost - $3200. Sigh... So we called our VERY dear friend Ray who works at Dixieline in the doors and windows department. Well, Ray assured us that WE (meaning he and possibly friends) could install these windows and save a bunch o' money doing it ourselves. Also, there is a tax credit for windows installed by December 31st. So after being deeply blessed by Ray and our dear friends Jim and Jeff, we set out to replace the windows on a cold and potentially rainy Saturday. To say we were a bit nervous would be an understatement!

A glimpse of the old....

And the demolition begins!

I think Ryan REALLY enjoyed this part! :-)

The new windows await...

Our expert foreman Ray leading Ryan on what to do next!

The old window out..

And getting ready for the new....

Hoping these are small enough pieces for the trash collector!

Jim, Jeff and Ray positioning in the new window.

Sarah's room sans window. And yes, those clouds look ominous!

Yikes! Better hurry!

Sarah's new window is in!

And we have FOUR new windows! And how long did this take? Days? Hours? Only 3 hours for all of them! We could not have had a better experience and we could not ask for better friends!! Thank you guys for all your help! Oh and by the way, can we do this again early next year? We have four more windows and then we'll be done! I promise bagels!!

Christmas Decorations 2010

We know Christmas is coming when the Grinch descends upon the Old Globe Theatre in beautiful Balboa Park!

This sight used to scare the heck out of Sarah! She always knew he was just around the corner!

Santa and his reindeer getting ready to fly!

While I wish this picture had turned out better, it was still a lovely vision of a huge Christmas tree at the Otay Ranch Shopping Center with the full moon shining behind it!

Back at home, we have the bears awaiting their Christmas feast!

I ADORE penguins! I have a whole display of them at Christmastime!

And what is decorating without a bit of help from the fine folks at Starbucks?

These fellows greet all that drive down our street!

I so love these yard ornaments!

And our shining Christmas trees....

Mr. Polar Bear was our very first lawn display that we bought.

Every morning we need to help dear Santa up as he has a tendency to sleep through the day if you let him. Once he's up though, he's ready to wave "hi" to everyone!

Did I mention that I LOVE penguins???

And dear Frosty always has a smile on his face!

A little festive greenery on our porch.

And the view from the porch of the bears and their feast.

Teddy, what do you see?

Why it's a train comin' round the tree!

He's fascinated with it!

This is perhaps the only "Black Friday" item we have ever bought. We saw it in the Home Depot ad one year and I told Ryan he HAD TO get it first thing on Black Friday. Luckily he got one of the last ones and we've enjoyed it ever since.

Oh Mister Innocent...

Ruh Roh! I see a train derailment!

Norah is waiting for the train too!

This ornament was our angel on our tree when I was a little girl.

A bit fuzzy on the focus but this is what it looks like outside our picture window.

Several years ago, a very dear friend gave me a TON of Boyds Bear ornaments, so much so that I could have my very own Boyds Bear Christmas tree. It has brought me such joy ever since!

And Teddy likes the tree too!

This year, Yankee Candle had the most adorable line of mouse Christmas candle toppers!

All of our ornaments on our tree are unique, often times from places we've visited or special moments in our lives. They may not all match but their all very special to us.

Our Boyds Nativity scene

See, even on a sunny day, these guys are ready to bring a smile to people's faces.

This is one of my favorite bears - I know, I know I have a LOT of favorite bears! This one is a Starbucks Bearista from several years ago. We also have a special blanket from Disneyland last year.

The line for Santa gets longer every year!