Wednesday, October 28, 2009

i heart ... bono


this is my favorite video that i took at the concert!
bono was right there!
right there!
i kind of wish i would have taken more video,
but i was a little busy
enjoying myself.
and now you,
can enjoy this:





p.s.


that is not me screaming "oh baby"! i would never say that in a million years!!!













.

Monday, October 26, 2009

i heart ... adam and stephanie

it's always such a bummer when the concert is over.
luckily we took hundreds of pictures
and some video too
and they help to soothe my sorrow...
boo-hoo!
this is one of my favorite videos.
(more to come later!)
stephanie was waving to adam
and he looked right at her and gave a little nod and a smile!!!
it's the sweetest!
(it's very subtle, so you might have to watch it a couple of times...)

p.s.

this video was taken on my digital camera, that's why it's not that great of quality, but i love it because it shows how close we were because my camera does not even zoom in on motion picture mode! we really were that close!!!

.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

paula ...

last night.
we
(me, stephanie, brook, joe & brad)
for last night!
what to say?
i don't know what to say.

there's too much to say!
i guess i'll let my pictures do the talking.

set list:
breathe
get on your boots
magnificent
mysterious ways
beautiful day
i still haven't found what i'm looking for
stuck in a moment
no line on the horizon
elevation
in a little while
unknown caller
until the end of the world
unforgettable fire
city of blinding lights
vertigo
i'll go crazy - remix
sunday bloody sunday
mlk
walk on
one
where the streets have no name
ultraviolet
with or without you
moment of surrender







"jolly good jeans you're wearing!"
(that's for you, brook)














































the end.












.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

i heart ... my aunt carol


riyadh, saudi arabia



i have the coolest aunt in the world.
you thought yours was?
you are sadly mistaken.
carol is the queen of all travel.
she has been to 89 countries.
you read that right.
89 countries!
and she lives in riyadh, saudi arabia.
carol very sweetly let me interview her for i heart...
she is the most interesting person i know.
unfortunately, the cool pictures i have of carol
(in front of the taj mahal, in front of the great wall of china, in front of the pyramids...)
are having "technical difficulties" uploading to blogger.
so you'll have to be satisfied with these
pictures i poached from the internet.



here goes:



q: what is your favorite place you've traveled to?
a: i think that would have to be paris.





q: if you could trade lives with any one person for a day, who would it be and why?
a: queen elizabeth, just to see all the rooms in buckingham palace.





q: if you could speak another language which would it by and why?
a: arabic, because I am ashamed to have not learned it better after all this time, or russian, just because it sounds cool and is spoken in so many places.



q: if you could go back in time, which time period would you most like to visit?
a: the time of Christ, or egypt during ramses II time.



q: favorite books?
a: arabian sands by wilfred thesinger
mary queen of scots by antonia fraser
witness by whitaker chambers
ana karenina by leo tolstoy
anything by thomas hardy (have read most of his books)
washington square by henry james



q: favorite movies?
a: doctor zhivago
apocalypse now
slumdog millionaire



q: favorite cities you've traveled to?
a: paris
brugges, belgium
prague, czech republic
hong kong
cape town, south africa
cairo, egypt
hanoi, vietnam
sydney, australia
varanasi, india
kathmandu, nepal

varanasi, india



q: where do you most want to travel to next?
a: the baltic sea region



q: if you could do something dangerous just once, with no risk, what would you do?
a: sky dive



q: what makes you laugh the hardest?
a: gossiping with my best friends brad and lesley.



q: if you hadn't been born in America, which other culture would you most like to be born into?
a: none! America rules!!!!
(if i have to answer, then maybe canada or england)



q: what's the most beautiful place you've ever been to?
a: the seychelle islands.



q: if you didn't have to worry about money, what would you do with your life?
a: give money to charity, give money to family, quit my job, live simply, continue traveling.



q: what would be the perfect day for you?
a: sleeping in, playing with my cats and parrot, shopping, dinner with friends, watching a movie.



q: if you could have any view from your back porch what would it be?
a: the ocean.



q: favorite countries you've traveled to?
a: most exotic are probably ethiopia, yemen, nepal, tibet, india.
best animal viewing (safaris) were to kenya and tanzania.
best historical places are egypt, turkey, jordan, israel, greece.
nepal








p.s.



here's the list of countries carol has been to:



india, pakistan, burma, sri lanka, thailand, vietnam, cambodia, loas, singapore, malaysia, indonesia, hong kong, macau, australia, china, tibet, mongolia, lebanon, syria, jordan, israel, palestine, yemen, oman, qatar, kuwait, bahrain, united arab emirates, iran, morocco, tunisia, egypt, ethiopia, eretrea, kenya, tanzania, zimbabwe, zambia, botswana, south africa, mozambique, lesotho, swaziland, the seychelles, mauritius, madagascar, turkey, russia, georgia, armenia, azerbaijan, kazakhstan, uzbekistan, kyrgyzstan, cyprus, hungary, belarus, poland, slovakia, czech republic, greece, belgium, luxembourg, holland, portugal, spain, france, switzerland, germany austria, italy, england, ireland, scotland, vatican city, haiti, dominican republic, belize, colombia, ecuador, el salvador, nicaragua, costa rica, honduras, guatamala, mexico, and last but not least, canada!








.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

i heart ... this rainbow cake




i found this cool cake on omnomicon.
i fell in love.
mostly i fell in love with how
it would blow the minds
of my nieces and nephews.
('cause you know i'm all about my nieces and nephews!)
i made it today for our sunday family dinner.
and it worked.
their minds were blown.







yes, i am aware of what this looks like.














omnomicon's rainbow cake

2 boxes white cake mix
24 oz. of clear diet soda (like diet sprite)
gel food coloring
(the recipe doesn't call for it, but i added 2 teaspoons coconut flavoring!)
whatever icing you want
(i used whipped cream)

1)mix the cake mixes with the diet soda. it will be lumpy. follow the instructions on the box (besides the oil, eggs...).
2) get out 6 bowls, for the 6 colors of batter. put an even amount of batter into each bowl (a little less than 1 1/2 cups per bowl).
each bowl needs its own spoon!
3) stir colors into each bowl. it takes a lot of food coloring!

4) spray the pans very well. drop first color into pan. drop 2/3 cup at a time. drop it like you would pancake batter.
drop the next color in the center, right on top of the first. you can choose the order of the colors.(omnomicon did red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple...and then the opposite in the other pan. hers looked better than mine, so i'm doing mine her way next time!)
do not stir the colors!!! leave them alone!!!

5) bake according to package directions, but might need an extra 5 or 10 min. because of the soda. let it cool completely before removing to wire rack.




and finally, look at this cool view from the bottom!












.

Monday, September 28, 2009

i heart ... this nerdy boy




one day,
while my niece sierra was at school,
i picked up her camera and started looking
through her pictures.
i know,
i'm terrible!
i should not have done it without her permission,
but i just didn't think about it at the time.
as i was looking through her pictures
i came upon this one
and could not stop laughing!!!
for the rest of the day i laughed every time
i thought about it!
thomas just looks like such a nerdy little boy
in those thick coke-bottle glasses
and dinosaur pajamas.
love it!







p.s.
no baby-eyes were harmed
in the taking of this picture.
those are play glasses
that just have the appearance
of being thick.












.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

i heart ... scotch koreans




i wish all commercials were this funny.

then maybe i'd actually watch them.




















.

i heart ... my mom's mud pie brownies




every time my mother makes
these brownies
i just die!
i could eat all of them!
(and i almost do)
this recipe was given to my mom
by her friend debbie.


they are so perfect!
the coconut
the pecans
the chocolate frosting...
everything i love!




mississippi mud pie brownies

1 brownie mix (9x13 size - and hershey's is the best)
1 and 1/2 cups coconut
1 and 1/2 cups chopped pecans
1 jar marshmallow cream (a million times better than marshmallows!)


make brownie mix as instructed on box.
add in coconut and pecans.
bake as directed.
when done,
spread 1 jar of marshmallow cream
over top.
(dollop by the spoonfuls
over the entire top,
then spread evenly)
let cool completely before frosting.



frosting:
1/2 cup butter, softened to room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup cocoa
4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup evaporated milk


mix butter and vanilla with beaters.
in separate bowl,
mix powdered sugar and cocoa.
beat in powdered mix with butter mix
alternating with the evaporated milk.
spread.
refrigerate a few hours before serving.
keep stored in refrigerator.











Friday, September 18, 2009

i heart ... the temple


mesa, arizona



i was lucky enough
to go to the temple today.
there is no place on earth
more peaceful
and calming
and beautiful.


don't you just wish
you could live there?





Wednesday, September 16, 2009

i heart ... the tortoise and the boy



my nephew thomas


this is thomas and kyle.

kyle is the family tortoise.

thomas and kyle have a

love/hate relationship.

thomas loves kyle.

but kyle...

well, let's just say

he doesn't exactly reciprocate.








Monday, September 14, 2009





every second monday in september
my family gathers at the cemetery
to celebrate our grandpa's birthday.
today is the second monday.

we want to celebrate
his life, rather than his death.

monday, september 10, 2001
was our first such gathering.

it was a completely average day.
we had no idea what was coming our way
the next morning.

i've thought about this often.
enjoying a nice, innocent september 10th
with my family
and then in a snap of the fingers
a handful of murderers
took away that innocence.

how i wish we could be living in a
september 10th world.
how i wish september 11, 2001
never happened.

but then i think,
i don't want to take back
who we became on september 12th...

...united.
prayerful.
full of love for one another.
we were all just americans,
not republican, democrat...

i wish we could all remember
who we were
on september 12th.








Thursday, September 10, 2009

i heart ... how this boy loves salsa


my nephew thomas


yes, it's true.
thomas loves eating salsa by the spoonfuls!
no chips necessary.
just a bowl and spoon.


(and please don't worry.
it's baby-safe salsa.
homemade by stacy)










Thursday, September 3, 2009

i heart ... eli

aren't those lips kissable???
introducing my new nephew
eli
he belongs to russ & jenn.
oh,
and he belongs to clayton and ava too.
they love him to death!
when they get anywhere near him
they start giggling with delight.





he's a very advanced baby.
he already knows how to play peek-a-boo.







p.s.

i had to include these pictures
of clayton's many costume changes
during our day together.

he began as a cowboy...





... then covertly snuck up on us
in his spy gear...






... and lastly,
batman!












Monday, August 31, 2009

i heart ... a perfect day (no. 2)


i had yet another perfect day.
i spent it with my cousin/bff, brook.
first,
we saw julie & julia.
loved!


i never knew julia child was such a
happy, positive person.
just the kind of person i like.
i enjoyed every second that julia/meryl streep
was onscreen.



we saw "julie & julia"
so, of course, after the movie
we had to do a little shopping!
that should go without saying!
(so i guess i needn't have mentioned it)
(also, i guess i don't need to mention which store
we spent most of our time in)



we knew that after seeing "julie & julia"
we would feel the intense need
for some scrumptious and beautiful food.
so after shopping we headed across the street to




and the food was exactly what we had in mind -
yes, it was scrumptious and beautiful!



when the weather is cooler
we're going back to enjoy their beautiful patio!




and even better,
one of these days we're going to have a girls' night
and reserve their beautiful
white room!



our waitress tried to tempt us with a
peach cobbler cheesecake for dessert
(yes, a cobbler and a cheesecake in one!)
but we could not be deterred from
the very dessert we had in mind...


sprinkles, of course!





and thus ended our perfect day.

i can't wait for the next one!