Scarf Hunting

So, I've been scarf hunting the last couple days for the Scarf Swap and managed to come across two scarves I am IN LOVE WITH!! My inner Anglophile Book Nerd has found its clothing match. Tell me you aren't in love with these too? If you love these as much as I do, go here to purchase on etsy.

These are the words of Captain Wentworth to Anne Elliot in the Jane Austen novel, Persuasion.

"You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone forever."

These are Darcy's words to Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice.

"In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I love and admire you."

I am absolutely swept off my feet, aren't you?

Which are you partial too?

I'm more of a Persuasion girl myself. It's just such a sweeping romance where the nice girl gets the nice guy by being patient and being nice.

*Sigh* I am loving these!

Rainy Days are Perfect for Book Nerds and Bloggers!

 Finals are over! I'm free for the semester and I now officially have time to indulge in the nonessential activities that I love. So, here I am - blogging!

I don't know about you, but I love cloudy, drizzly, rainy weather. There is something so wonderful about the smell of rain, the content look that wet plants seem to radiate - especially grass, and sound of rain hitting the roof, walls, windows, and the rhythm that changes with the intensity of the rain.

Days like this make me want to read, drink tea, and lounge in pajamas. Since finals are officially over, Mack and I have decided to do just that!

I hope you're enjoying your Friday as much as I'm enjoying mine!!

P.S. Here's what I'm reading:
The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka
The Distant Hours by Kate Morton
Visual Communication: Integrating Media, Art, and Science by Rick Williams and Julianne Newton

The last one was a loan from my advisor to help me get comfortable with creativity before I start some visual arts classes in the fall - so friendly of her to loan it to me!

Recent Discoveries, like whatever happened to the Pink Ranger...

This past week/weekend has been a week of exciting discoveries. I thought a quick list would be an excellent way to share with everyone:

#1 - Where is the Pink Ranger now?
After posting a picture of the ever awesome pink ranger last week, I was left wondering what this actress went on to do post power ranger. The original Pink Ranger was played by Amy Jo Johnson. Apparently she has a seemingly successful post rangers career. She played Julie Emrick on the TV show Felicity for 2.5 years. I remember this show being a big deal, but didn't actually watch it, starred in a movie about singer Nancy Nevins (the first woman to sing at Woodstock), and is now on a tv series called, "Flashpoint" on CBS that is moving to ION. Pretty great for a girl who got her start fighting for Zordon.

#2 - Goodreads.com
If you and your friends love reading, this is the best thing ever! It lets you show the books you're reading, review books, win free books, and talk with your friends about books.

#3 - Oysters
This weekend WM and I met up with friends and hit up Oysterfest. We enjoyed live music, watching an oyster eating contest (the women's winner at 195 oysters in 5 minutes), an oyster shucking contest, and checking out the arts and crafts tent. We tried fried oyster and raw oyster on the half shell. I liked the fried ones more, but the raw ones weren't terrible. An experience, for sure.

#4 - Don't take too long of running breaks
Ever since I let my schedule go to pieces when I hurt my foot, I keep losing motivation. Thankfully, having my awesome running buddy Alli encouraging me and keeping me accountable has helped me keep going.

#5 - Mack can be really bad when he wants too...

We left Mack at home in the backyard for awhile today and when my hubby came home at lunch, he discovered a very guilty Mack IN the house. Yes, we did leave him outside. It turns out that he decided the partially open windows would be a great opportunity to shred the screen and hop on in. Guess we won't be leaving our windows open again...He is in soo much trouble...

Don't trust that cute face...

This week, I am going to get in my next week of running training, which is a 1 mile run, 2 mile run, 1 mile run,  and a 4 mile run. Hopefully my ninja work outs will also continue to improve. 

I also signed up for the Cupcake Half Marathon. Before you get all excited about how far, I'm running, check out the website. I will not be doing this distance all at once. I get to do it over a few days. Yes! With that and my 5k this weekend, the end of March will herald 5 runs in for Run For the Bling of It! Yes!

What exciting discoveries have you made lately?

I think the question is what haven't I done since I last blogged...

Despite all my efforts to regularly update this blog it seems I once again to a spill off the wagon...whoops.

So, I thought I'd give a giant summary of what I've been up to:

#1: Craftiness...

I've been trying to be crafty, so I made this year's Christmas newsletter cards and decided that Valentine's cards were way more fun than Christamas. So some of my dear friends got handmade Valentine's from Will and I. Another crafty project I tried out was inspired by one Lisa Leonard's blogs. It's an easy decorative project. She did hers as a small Valentine's project, but mine is giant C-130 wall art! To see Lisa's project, go here. Check out mine:

It's sideways here, so it hangs with  the plane going up. It's a C-130 in a heart. If you look closely, you can see it's 4 propellors!

#2 Running...

I am back to running. My feet are healed up and I am back on the road. After 1 week of no running and another week of light running and long walks, I'm excited to get back to my running routine this week!

#3 New Shoes...

I deduced that my running shoes were old and contributing to my sore heels, so the hubby and I checked our accounts and it was decided I could purchase new shoes. I went over to Fleet Feet here in Corpus where their awesome staff had me run around the store like a crazy till we found the right shoes. I ended up with Saucony Omni Progrid 9's. They are awesome!!! They keep my heel gripped nice and tight and have great padding.

Beautiful new shoes...

#3 Ran a 5k

I'll have more about this later, but I ran the Cupid's Chase on Saturday. It was pretty brutal after not doing a long run for two weeks. I didn't die, I didn't stop, and I did finish, so I'm going to say that it was a success...

#4 Valentine's Day

My dear hubby is back in pilot training, so week day celebrations don't happen for us. We had a great night in on Saturday instead. We bought some delicious sushi to take home from the HEB (WM picked out our rolls). We watched an episode of Bones (our favorite). We drank champagne. We made each other desserts. WM made me sopapillas!

Valentine's flowers from WM

#5 Baked Alaska

My friend Claire over at her blog Spare Thyme posted a Baked Alaska recipe back around Christmas. I found it inspiring and decided to make a Valentine's Baked Alaska for WM. I used her recipe. The only change was my ice cream flavor. I went with a swirled variety that had raspberry, white chocolate, and chunks of dark chocolate. It had an appropriate red tint for Valentine's Day. For the recipe, check out Claire's blog here.

Top View. My meringue got a little toasty, but still tasted good.

Yum!

#6 Decorating Cakes...

I am taking a cake decorating class. Last week we learned about making stars and star clusters with one of the frosting tips. We practiced on cookies we brought to class. Here is one of mine.

They will get better!

#7 Read about a Million Books...

Maybe not that many, but a lot. The local librarians think I'm weird when I carry out my stack of about 14 or 15 books at least once a week. One of the stand outs this week was "Miss Harper Can Do It" by Jane Berentson. It was a quirky and sweet novel. As a military spouse I was a little sad at the end, but still really enjoyed it.

#8 Helped Mack with His Weight Loss Goals...

Mack is doing great on his smaller amount of food diet and getting even more exercise. I am happy to say most of his pudge is gone and he seems to be a much happier dog. I think my friend Julia getting a puppy named Shadow that comes to play might be part of it too!

#9 Siesta Scripture!

I'm part of a group memorizing two scriptures a month. You choose one on 1st and one on the 15th. For more info, go to Beth Moore's blog here. I think it's great and I'm so excited to share my verse for today. 

"But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me."

2 Corinthians 12:9

This verse is a great reminder that our weaknesses are okay. We don't have to be perfect, we just have to know when to ask God for a little help. So, this verse will help me to remember that when I feel like I can't quite do it all and feel like I'm lacking that it just gives God a chance to help me out! I also love the imagery in the NIV translation of God's power resting on me. It is very comforting me. I imagine that God's power is like a foggy hug resting on me.

#10 Drank lots of coffee

I drank coffee with my husband, with my friends, with my dog, and by myself. I'm a good Colorado girl at heart, what do you expect ;)

I think that's my life since the last update. Hopefully my race update will be up tomorrow for all you running folk!

Till next time!

When the library starts to run out of books...

So, I love reading. In fact, I love reading more than any other leisure activity. I will read almost anything. A good kid's novel, thrillers, chick lit, classics, British novels, random novels, anything. Since we've been in our tiny town at this tiny base, I have become a regular visitor at the base library. Unfortunately, I have officially, as of the end of last week, been through most titles in the new fiction section and the ones I haven't read, I haven't wanted to. So, I am starting to reread ones I like the most and start to go through the regular fiction section. Unlike most libraries, this one's regular fiction sections is filled with scary novel series. A lot of the covers clue you in that they were acquired sometime in the 1960's or 70's. Scarily enough, there was an entire shelf filled with Danielle Steele novels.

Anyway, I want to let everyone know about an amazing series of books. They were written in the 1960's and they are geared toward young adults. I read them back in the day and am currently rereading them. The series is titled, "The Dark is Rising." The first books is "Over Sea, Under Stone." The series is written by Susan Cooper. They are your typical good vs. evil story. The writing is fantastic, the characters are great, and I would throw a guess out there that J.K. Rowling of the Harry Potter novels probably read these at one point. If you read the whole series, you'll see a lot of similarities.

The other two books I just reread are Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and Peony In Love, both written by Lisa See. Lisa See is a very gifted writer. These books provide great insight into Chinese life in the 19th and 20th centuries. Both stories and all the characters capture my attention and feed my imagination every time I read these.

Anyway, I'm off to let my UPT husband know he has to get ready for bed in order to get his full eight hours of sleep.