UPLOADING PHOTOS TAKES SO LONG

so here is just the beginning... (can i just hire a photo-uploader-to-blogger-er?)

photo courtesy: ashley thalman photograhy

... for those of you who missed my show...

HE SAID IT'S "NOT THAT COOL"

But you and I know better, right?

One cold night (a week or two ago?),
after parking near the MOA for our all-too-familiar late night stays at the HFAC,
Ben ever so non-chalantly plucked a branch from a tree and packed it in the car with us.

He came home, gave it a test tube of water and stuck it in the planter pot:



We got to watch the popcorn popping right before our eyes:

But we didn't have to look out the window!

Oh,

and side note:

He's taken up little Bonsai,
and found the best re-use for egg cartons!

GIFT OF GIVING

One of the best things in life is when you know a gift you gave is appreciated and used.

I stressed over designing and sewing this fleece together to make a blanket
for Ben on Christmas 2003. (It's over six years old?!)
Somewhere I think I still have my sketches... each shape representing something that meant something to him or us. (All I remember now is triple dot and the Radiohead reference).
I know, I know, I'm a sentimental sucker.
It is a little small for his long body, so I don't think he's used it too much,
but I was so happy to see him nap with it that day!
(It was some day in early March?)

KINDA LIKE CHAO'S...

except Indian!

I snuck these pics on my walk to work a few weeks back.
I finally got to actually go inside last last week with Ashley.
She got moth beans and I got a mint chutney yogurt sauce mix and frozen samosas.
(Which happened to be our dinner that night!)

PLANTIES

just days after scooter crash,
HusBen called the family (me) for a spontaneous non-Monday family night:

BK had gone to the greenhouses that day for garden supplies.
He decided to take the opposite direction from last year's flower garden.

This year, we get:

BASIL (the summer staple)

Red and yellow tomatoes.

and...
BRUSSEL SPROUTS!
(or is it brussels sprout?)

.

and can you guess what my job was?

to make use of my favorite Korea tape.

YES, IT IS JUST ONE MORE THING, BUT I FEEL BETTER ENDURING STRESS IF I JUST GET TO BLOG SOMETHING

at times like these (times of 3am bedtimes and 8am wake times),
i think back about times like those
(morning canyon drives & private screenings at sundance)

and then i blog about them at 3:45 am

(fun winter saturday courtesy of nu skin, naturally).

BEST BELATED TO RYAN!

*Sorry, Ryan, the 5 asterisks or 70's-looking daisies are not to represent your character/interest,
but your 5 darling daughters.

FEBRUARY'S NOT OVER

*school = intense = not posting this Valentnice-goodness til now:

casidy...
(I 'd link to her blog, but she is one of those blog-o-phobes :) even though she is the perfect kind of person for a blog.)

...is the proprietor of my new-found outlook on Love Day as an adult.

She validated her beliefs: cards and cinnamon lips are fun parts of Valentine's Day.
We found just those things on our doorstep when coming home on the 14th.

- - -

benjamin...
...my Valentine, gave me just what I wanted (and No-Spending-Month-appropriate):

A bit of flowers for my desk at work all week - 'leftover' from the Dentist arrangement,
(except I didn't take the photo on their best day, so this picture doesn't do justice to the tulips' perkiness!)
and a LOVE LETTER. Of course, Sentimental Me prefers a love letter even if it isn't No-Spending-Month.

happyfebruary

still.

FOR YOU (YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE):

Ben told me that when they (Knudsen sibs) used to ask what you wanted

for your birthday/mother's day/etc, you would tell them,

"six happy children."

Ben's little smile, typically for photos

Me giving Ben a slight tickle so he'll smile bigger

click for clarity/to enlarge

well, here are 5 pictures of 1 happy couple (5+1=6?)
to wish you BOTH a happy 34 years, 1 week, and 1 day.

and

the photos are coming to you in print! watch the mailbox!

*special thanks to the bryners for the sort-of-spontaneous/sort-of-planned photo shoot up the canyon.
photos by jon bryner photography © 2009.
also, thanks to jon for lending me your north face jacket so i wouldn't look silly in that blazer.

WE KIND OF SKIPPED CHRISTMAS

Christmas shopping time falls right in line with the worst weeks of the semester.

So to remove the stress, Ben agreed to nix gift-giving to each other.

Because we basically gifted ourselves everything we ever wanted

while we were on our Thanksgiving jaunt to Seoul...

he wears them as wedding band substitutes

we persuaded each other to buy things we thought the other would like.

(That's the only reason I initially dissuaded the Panda hat... I didn't know he'd like it so much!)

Plus, we got stuff for our home...

So that kind of counts as gift-giving, right?

pink uniqlo hoodie and flexible oliver peoples-inspired frames

Either way, we were satisfied.

*But much thanks to Mom, who more than covered our "Santa gifts" and stockings!

I'm sure going to miss Christmas with my family...

and the rock band sessions that come with it.

--------

This shall be a "perpetual post" and I will update with more photos of our

Korean "gifts" as fast as I can take them/post them. Stay tuned...

BELATED: BEN'S AMAZING KOREA PHOTOS

PLANTER N' BENCH

FRESHEST OF THE MOST FRESH BIBIMBAP. MMMMM.

THE GREATEST SHOPPING ON EARTH? ANYONE DISAGREE?

Oh, and Brian found Nu Skin Korea...
right across from the most amazing Buddhist Temple.

CHRISTMAS BREAK + FELT FROM KOREA

EQUALS MONSTERS

It's been a long time since I tried my hand at anything with a needle and thread.
But on the first Sunday of Christmas break (perhaps the same Sunday mentioned below),
I sat down with my Korea bag of felt and declared, "who wants to help me make a monster?"
Ashton was the volunteer. He helped me cut, glue, make design decisions and even wanted to try the blanket stitch. We put a little rattle in Alice's monster, and a squeaker in MD's.

Thanks to Ashley for encouraging me that
I could follow through with this
when I hesitated in front of the felt stores at Dongdaemun.
(She convinced me and then I did the opposite of hesitating...)

*please forgive the poor lighting. i was wrapping them up that night

and thus could not wait for the morning sun!