A little sand and water never hurt anyone.. just a camera.

A crabby time...

This little crab is the reason why I don't have a camera anymore...I was chasing it around the beach sometime in November..Picture this.. me in my swimsuit jumping all around rocks, sand and water saying... "here crabby crabby"...


Totally worth it...anyone want to go Brazil and ruin another camera?

Anyone just love love love their small, digital camera? I need one and would appreciate some suggestions.

P.S. I got my coffee pot in the mail today...full report on the DGB900 coming soon.

Ok Ok Already... and Welcome Back!

Ok.. it has been awhile since I have blogged... I got sucked into Facebook and am just finally surfacing.

What is new you ask???

Hmmm.. I bought a new coffee pot. I have not used it yet (since I just bought it today on Amazon). BUT it has great potential. Not only does it brew coffee.. it also grinds it. Yes, folks I have made the big giant big-girl leap into snazzy kitchen appliances. Last year was the year of the slow cooker and this year... the year of the Cuisinart DGB900 Grind& Brew. But enough about that.. I don't even know if it will meet the high standards set in the Lia kitchen. Which if it is going to compete against the slow cooker it will need to walk the cup of coffee to my bed in the morning.

In other news... I am now addicted to the Bourne Identity book series. I started reading it while I was on vacation and I have now read three more of the books. Pry me away people... I need something worthwhile to read. Any suggestions? I will do a book exchange with you. (Meaning you send me a good book and I will send you my Bourne series :)

Ok.. it is February... and we all know what that means. Spin Class. There is nothing I dislike more than riding a stationary bike indoors with some sweaty instructor yelling at me to turn the knob on the bike half a turn and pedal pedal pedal. Actually... there is one thing I dislike more.. being beat going up Lookout by some old lady on a mountain bike. For the love.

OK.. So I finally downloaded some pictures..

Ok.. So it occured to me that I never really post any pictures or any real life stuff... Well I finally finally finally downloaded some pictures off of my camera.. So here are some of my adventures from the last months.

Here is the first one from my most recent vacation... I call it... "Look ma, no helmet!"

Notice the dress from KatieKate that I am sporting. You can have one too.. just ask Kate real nice.

On a different trip to Grand Rapids, Russ and I saw Curt and Katie's longhorns. They are some hardy animals. It was my first time up close and in real life to an actual longhorn..(I know!)

During New Years I went to New Orleans.. it was a super fun trip filled with way too too much Gumbo (seriously I had a really bad stomach ache) and for the first time in my life I ate pecan pie. (And loved it!) Here is me infront of the famous Camellia Grill.. the vanilla shakes were great and the burgers were out of this world. (Hi Sue!)

Anyway.. wanna take a trip somewhere? Call me, I would love to travel with you. I might even share the arm rest with you on the flight over. :)

Fat Tuesday

So as you may or may not have realized, we are in the Lent season... which is for some Christian denominations, is the 40 day-long liturgical season of fasting and prayer before Easter.

The purpose of lent is to prepare for Easter - aka the celebration of the resurrection of Christ. To prepare for Easter it is common to give something up.. a sort of 'fasting' so that we can become a little closer to God.

In previous years I have given up chocolate, or television or something of the sort. This year I am giving drinking beer. Now.. even though I am not a daily beer drinker or even anything close to it, an occasional frosty cold one has its perks. For example last night.. the recreation volleyball team I play on won its first game of six. That called for a little celebration which included the frosty beverage. Now.. it will just need to be a nice refreshing glass of Coke.. with a twist of lime.

Call me up friends.. lets go have a cup of Joe or a lemonade. I would love to catch up.

The Bubble.

When I was fresh out of university and working at my first 'real' grown up job, the older 30-something engineers used to tell me 'just wait until you are out of the bubble' or 'enjoy the bubble while it lasts'. And they would smirk a little and laugh. I never really knew they were talking about until this year.



It is not so easy.. this growing up thing...



The year 2008 was a growing up year for me. It seems like all at once my parents got older, my friends moved away, I not only bought a furnace but also windows, my sisters are giving me advice instead of me giving them noogies, I solve real life problems at work.


One out of the bubble question I have been trying to answer is... what do people do after work? For the past three years I have done the grad school thing.. but now that I am done.. I don't really know what to do with myself. Maybe you can shed some light on this topic.. What do you do after work?

More on the domestic front

Ok. For my birthday, I received a crock pot. I have never really cooked in a crock pot, or for that matter at all but I was pretty excited for the new challenge. I emailed one of my most cook-iest friends (hi Katie!) about a pot roast recipe and was off to the grocery store.
The butcher lady at the grocery store was so super duper nice. She cut me a new piece of meat and gave me some great cooking tips. I got a little lost in the potatoe department but was sorted out by a phone call to a friend and a nice old lady. (not the same person). Long story short, my pot roast was a success. I have tons of left overs. If you want the recipe here it is:

Pot Roast… in. Little salt and pepper on top.
Carrot, potatoes, onions… in.
Packet of onion mix, packet of brown gravy mix… in.
2 cups of water… in.
Maybe another cup if there’s lots of veggies.

Ok.. so far I have done 2 new things (pot roast and sew).. it is going to be a longer winter than anticipated. It feels like my bike will never see daylight any time soon. If anyone wants to do anything fun just call me.

D is for domestic.

Ok. So about a month ago I hired a company and we put new windows in my house. Actually, I stood around and watched and they broke old glass and put new glass in.

Friday, as I was looking around I noticed that I don't really have any curtains in my house.. you know big kid curtains.. not just blinds. So I went to the store and found that I didn't really like any of the curtains. I had this bright idea to buy material and make my own curtains.

#1 Material is expensive. Who knew? Anyway, with my 10 yards of material in hand I called my mamma. She brought over her sewing machine, threaded it all up and left.

Second- I don't really know how to sew (except for in 7th grade sewing class, I once made a pillow). Fast foward to day 2. (I gave up after mom left and went and got my skiis tuned). Fresh from church I decided to turn on the Bronco game and sew some curtains. I carefully took all the measurements, cut all the material, pinned all the material, and turned on "the machine". About 10 minutes into a happy sew song, something happened and there was a tangle of thread all over. Well.. in true engineering fashion, I decided that I would fix it. Wrong answer. I ended up calling my mom, she came over (with some barbacoa and salsa) and helped me sew. She scolded me on my pinning and sewing strategy and showed me the advantages of the double stitch. My mother is so super patient. Seven hours later, 8 of my windows now have new curtains.

My next domestic task this week.. I will make my first turkey for the church community dinner. I figure it is a good idea to practice my turkey making skills on total strangers.