Tag Archives: Sunny

A Gorgeous Day!

Good evening!

It has been an absolutely gorgeous day here in Oregon. It was a bit on the toasty side today, but I just got back from  nice long swim in our chilly pool, which was absolutely refreshing, and we have air conditioning in our little place, so I think I should be able to nod off to sleep quite nicely this evening. It also probably helps that I am beyond tired, from having so much fun with my sister, Jennifer, while she is still in town.

Her and her husband, Austin, are only in town in until tomorrow, at which time they will return home! I have tried, for years to talk them into moving here, but Salem is just too big for them, which is ironic because it is just too small for us!! 😉 Anyway, we have squeezed in some quality time after work this evening, going to their favorite place in Salem to eat, and that is at Mongolian Grill. They make it a point to eat there at least once during every visit, and this time was no different. 😉

I must interject here, I have been part of a support group called Chunky Dunkers. This is basically a get healthy & fit support group that I started with the help of my sisters, Alex, Jennifer, oh, and I can’t forget my sweetie, Jason. Well, Alex has lost almost 60 pounds, and Jennifer has lost almost 40. I am soooo ABSOLUTELY PROUD OF BOTH OF THEM (and a little jealous, if truth be told), and it has caused me to have a feeling of a renewed sense of,

“Ok girl, you have got to get your butt into gear and make this happen for yourself!!”

So, I have eaten extra fruits and veggies today, avoided all calorie-laden drinks, and tracked all of my food that I have eaten, walked the stairs at work, and even got an extra half an hour of vigorous swimming in this evening! Whew!!! Only one day down, and possibly hundreds more to go, which is ok, seeing that it took me literally 16 years to get to the size that I am. I have never really been overly self-conscious of the weight, but I am noticing that the older I am getting the more aches and pains in my joints I am getting, and I am just TOO YOUNG to feel this DAMN OLD!! 😉 So, instead of just pissing and moaning about it, I am going to step up to the plate and take some action – little, by little – baby steps!!

If any of you reading have any hints/tips/ideas/yummy recipe ideas, or even just some motivational support for me and my get fit actions, I would be more than happy to hear from you. Please leave me a message in the comment section above!

Thank you SOOOO MUCH, in advance!!

With that said, I am going to head off to bed for the evening!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

P.S. These pictures were taken in my mom, Linda’s, garden. Aren’t they just lovely? Thanks, Mom!! 😉

Perfect Weekend at the Beach!

Good evening!

What a FABULOUS time we had at the beach!! The weather was picture perfect, the family was so much fun, and there was so much lazing around – it was RIDICULOUSLY FUN!!! 😉

Jason and I left Beverly Beach today to head home! It was surprising too because we just couldn’t get over how PERFECT the weather was! It was sunny all freakin’ weekend, except for the one or two hours of light rain in the wee hours of Thursday morning, which is EXACTLY what we had hoped for!!! So, after packing up, cleaning up our campsite, and giving all of our leftover firewood to a nice family who was staying longer down the way, we headed back onto the road to come home. That is when we realized it, today was the first time ALL WEEKEND, where the weather was kind of cloudy and overcast! We were leaving just in the nick of time!!! 😉

I am sure Jason feels the same way, but I can not speak for him, but what I will say is that I really needed this weekend! To just get away from it all, have some quiet downtime, spend a few days without the concept of time, without obligations or schedules, and without all of the hub-bub that comes with my normal life!!

I had a moment this weekend, one of a few actually, where I was actually consciously aware of just how blessed we were! God has tended to all of our needs, and has even seen to gift us with happiness too!! That combined with some quality time spent with family, what more could a girl want????

As I head off to go to sleep, in my own bed…

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

Day Two Camping at the Oregon Coast!

Good evening!

We have had such a lovely day today. This morning, at about 4 in the morning, I am only guessing at the time seeing that we have no clocks or actual knowledge of time while we are out here, I hear a light pitter pat on the outside of our tent , and then it gets increasingly faster and faster until I realize what I am hearing, it is raining. I LOVE it!! It is not the oh-my-gosh-we-are-going-to-be-soaked kind of raining, but a nice light rain that just makes everything nice and damp when you wake up in the morning! It was very pleasant!

After dozing back to sleep, until the sun finally made an appearance, I got to do some nice quiet reading while my sweetie toodled around our campsite, setting up this, whittling that, and pretty much just have a good ol’ time!! After our respective quiet time activities, we decided to leash the girls up and take them for a walk around the camp grounds. That was fun, and the girls are getting better and better at being leashed, and not freaking out when strangers walk by! I can tell that they are having fun too!!

For lunch today, since Jason and I have had some trouble with our wood being too green to burn, we decided that we would head into Newport for some lunch, and we made it to the Chalet Restaurant. They have THE BEST fried chicken sandwich with sweet and sour sauce that is just DELICOUS!! My mom and I used to love sneaking away for some quality conversation together and we would go and partake in this delightful, but albeit sinful sandwich creation! I have been telling Jason about it for years, but this is the first time that he has ever had the opportunity to eat one, and his verdict is that, “it was excellent”. He can be a man of few words, but how right he is!

Ok, so back to the camping! Beverly Beach has some of the most intriguing trees I have ever seen. I am not sure what kind they are, buy their trunks are all gnarled, and mangle-ey! They look like something out of a Grimm’s Fairytale or something. They are quite breathe-takingly beautiful. I have live in Oregon for more than half of my life, and I have never seen anything quite like them before. That is what the majority of the pictures that I am sharing with you today are of!

Well, my sister, Alice and her family, all got here later this afternoon! I wasn’t sure they were going to make it, and I am like a worried mother-hen when they are on the road, I just want everyone to get here safely and soundly so we can start having fun together!!! It was so good to see everyone, and especially to see how big our nephews have gotten since last we’ve seen them, which was last Christmas!

We spent the evening playing at the park, roasting our hotdogs over the open flame, while the kids all kept playing musical chairs while trying to avoid the campfire smoke in their faces!! LOL! 😉 Then my sissy , Alice, and I ended up making a trip into town so that she could pick up some last minute, forgotten items for their campsite. Sounds familiar, I did the same thing yesterday – there must be something in our genes that make us similar that way!!!

Anyway, I am off to go have some more and s’more fun with my family – HAHAHAHA! Get it?? Ok, no worries! I have no plans to quit my day job!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

Groovin’ to the Music!

Good morning!!

I can’t help groovin’ to the music playing throughout the house this morning!! Belly dancing has infiltrated my soul!!! SO MUCH FUN!! and really any song that has a strong 4/4 beat can be belly danced too! I am sure my sweetie thinks I have lost my blessed mind!!! LOL!!

Tonight is date night in our household!! YEAH!!! I LOVE DATE NIGHTS!!! Tonight Jason is taking me to dinner and a movie – although I may talk him into doing dinner, and a walk around River Front Park, or bowling, or miniature golf, or just strolling around downtown – I haven’t decided yet! I just want to do something that would be fun for both of us, but keeps us off of our booties!!!

One thing I will need to make sure that happens, is that Jason gets some walking shoes! He doesn’t have any decent ones, so going anywhere or doing anything that requires a bunch of walking is really uncomfortable for him – so I will have to help him look into that!!! He is now wearing a size 18, so you can imagine how difficult it can be to find ANY shoes in his size!!! UGH! We usually go up to the Nike outlet store where they have the reject shoes from the Portland Blazers. Sometimes those really work out, but USUALLY we find all sorts of CRAZY colored shoes, and I don’t care how hot my hubby is – and he is pretty hot, but NO MAN LOOKS GOOD WALKING AROUND IN BRIGHT ORANGE HIGH TOPS!!! No thank you!!! 😉 HAHAHA!!!

It looks like it is going to be another nice sunny day here in good ol’ Oregon, so I am VERY excited about that! I have charged one of my camera batteries, so now I am ready to go out and take a bunch of pictures! I am working on getting my old “Style File” on my PC that is filled with other peoples’ artwork, and creating a new Style File with all of my OWN artwork!!! That way I will have a wealth of pictures to use for posting on my blog! Oh, the idea of that just gives me shivers of JOY!! YEAH!!!

Anyway, I have got to zip out the door to get to the office! I am planning on treating myself to only working a half day and then getting outside to go enjoy this BEAUTIFUL weather before my date this evening with my love!!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS day!!

A Creative Day!

A lovely pic taken & sent to me, by my sis, Alex!! 😉

Good morning!

I have just gotten into the office and am getting ready to start my working day! The sun is shining and my entire desk is just glowing in the sun – I LOVE IT!!! It is such a different feeling then being here when it is grey, rainy, and cloudy! However, I am not complaining! I am just soooooo thankful to have such a nice large window to be able to see out of!!! BLISS!!

Tonight is my belly dancing class, and I have decided to leave the office about 1/2 an hour early today so that I can go accomplish one of my weekly assignments for the book I am reading, ‘The Artist’s Way’. The assignment is, is that I am supposed to choose 5 creative careers other than the career I am doing, and then choose to act out one of those careers in your life sometime this week! Well, today is that day!!

My 5 Creative Careers for me are:

1.     Professional Blogger
2.     Photographer
3.     Writer/Author
4.     Home Boutique Owner
5.     Magazine Editor

Actually, that last one is brand new! Magazine editor just popped into my head, and had to bump off another career choice off of my list, which was Fashion Designer.

I have decided that if there is a way to do it, I would love to blog full time! One of the things I keep stumbling across is that your blog should have a niche, and I am not sure if up to now it has actually had one. So, if I had to choose a niche – it would still have to remain kind of general, because I have soooo many interests, but I would like to think that my blog would be about living – more specifically finding joy and satisfaction in living your life while honoring your authentic self. For me that would mean, sharing my life with you, my readers, and giving hints, tips, advice, and how-to’s for all sorts of things that I have and am learning along the way.

Is that a niche??

Hmmmm…I am not sure!

It doesn’t matter, I am becoming a fast and firm believer of start where you are, with what you’ve got, learn along the way, and before you know it you will be where you always knew you wanted to be!!! My belly dance instructor keeps saying, “Stop thinking so hard, get out of your own way, you are doing the actions, so just let them happen!”

This maybe should be my life’s motto!?!? 😉

So I am getting out of my own way, and I am blogging every day now, as most of you know, but today, I am going to get out into this sunshine and start playing photographer. I am not going to judge my work, I am just going to get the shots into the camera and share them with the universe!!! and I am just going to see what happens!!

Have a FABULOUS morning!!! 😉
~Christina