Tuesday 16 February 2010

Vancouver last summer




In honor of the Olympics which I've been glued to. I am loving it all from the familiar strains of the NBC Olympic tune (duuuuuum duuum da dum da dum) to the triumphs to the wipeouts.

We didn't spend too much time there, but wow, awesome city. From the izakayas to Granville Island to lots and lots of outdoor seating at restaurants--well, I could easily live there.

Monday 15 February 2010

Valentine's


I love having fresh flowers in our house. Think I will really stick to doing it every week.
I loved making Steve breakfast in bed hallway. Egg in a (abstract) heart hole and bacon.
I loved putting homemade lemon drop cupcakes on friends' doorsteps and then running away.
I loved having a fling with coffee after three months away. Reunited and it felt so good. 
I loved going to Bok Tower where we spent our first Valentine's Day together seven years ago.
I love simple picnics of butter sandwiches, soup, and hot cocoa beneath ancient oak trees.
I love homemade garlands for this special day. 
I loved making these knit hearts for my loves (I left out the catnip). 
I love my husband and his patience with my roller coaster of emotions.
I love having my family in the same zip code.
I love talking about the future nowadays.
I love the way Steve crinkles up his nose when he's laughing.
I love our life right this very second. Screwy moments and all.


When you think about it, you'll find that love actually is all around. -from (what else?) my favorite movie

Wednesday 10 February 2010

Gentle giants

The snorkeling adventure was in Crystal River, on the west coast. We anchored at a wildlife refuge and after about 15 minutes in the water, sure enough, there were manatees gliding alongside us. Even a calf with mama.

 

It was sweet, humbling, and cold (as in freezing water) all at the same time.

Sorry for the icky picture quality--I guess you get what you pay for with disposable underwater cameras, at least with the kind sold in dive shops.

Tuesday 9 February 2010

3-2-1

For the first time since we've been together, Steve had to work on Super Bowl Sunday. The horror! He had been hoping against hope to get called off but it wasn't meant to be.

What was meant to be was having the rest of his shift canceled at 1:15 am Monday, over three hours after the Super Bowl ended, and when I had been asleep for over two hours. But no matter, I was thrilled to be able to put on boots over the jammies, eyeglasses, and drive bleary-eyed to pick up my best friend. When your husband works nights you learn to make the most of those unexpected pockets of time.

At 4:10 Steve woke me up yet again--what the heck? Time to watch the space shuttle launch. It was the last night launch in the last year of our space program. At least in my lifetime. I hope our kids will someday know what an astronaut is.

I will make sure they do.

It was the first night launch I can remember in a lifetime of watching launches. Growing up we just had to walk out the front door of the 24th avenue house and see the flash of orange against the sky. Once my dad got hold of NASA tickets for a viewing as close as you can get in Cape Canaveral and there you felt the ground shake you were so close. I was in 2nd grade standing in the big kids' playground at school when the Challenger exploded. We knew what we were seeing wasn't normal but didn't fully comprehend until lunchtime, when for the first and last time the cafeteria televisions were turned on and broadcasting the news. In 1998 when Senator John Glenn returned into space I was peering up at the sky alone and unexpectedly teared up at the thought of him coming full circle from 1962.

But oddly enough no night launches, although I had always wanted to see one. So once again I wordlessly got out of bed, put on my boots and eyeglasses, wrapped a blanket around myself and we walked into the road. And looked north. And waited. Waited. Until we saw it--unmistakeably brilliant against the clear night sky. It felt like it was just us left behind on Earth, watching this incredible ship carry those astronauts. Wham--separation of the rocket boosters, plain as day, and we couldn't bring ourselves to go inside as it got tinier and tinier in the distance 'till it just looked like one big glorious star.

See, I told my husband, how Florida was a great place to grow up?

Image from Capture of Time

Thursday 4 February 2010

a weekday weekend

We're weekending now since it's a working weekend ahead for us (better luck next year, super bowl party). We're going on a lil' snorkeling adventure today, more on that tomorrow.


photo by Naztrida

Tuesday 2 February 2010

january


so January was a wash, wasn't it? For blogging at least. There were lots of sweet sweet moments: a trip to the northeast to celebrate our "plural wife" getting married, visiting friends and getting to connect a little with my husband's childhood, starting to explore Florida's west coast (a late-added New Year's resolution), a pup named Pickett. I have no idea if the groundhog saw his shadow or not today but either way I'm feeling good about February.