Haiti Pictures by Jessie Phelps

These photo's were taken by my friend Jessie Phelps while she was in Haiti. Her portraits are absolutely beautiful but most importantly she gives us a look into others lives. Lives that are so very different from the ones we live. Yet when I look at their faces I also see the similarities. Life is life, we all experience pain, love, fear, etc., but I have to wonder, what are their dreams, what do they wish and hope for?

LINKS!!

I have been trying to figure out how to make links work on here for a while now. And I finally got it to work!!! I'm so excited that I can now share some of my favorite web sites and cute findings with you so much easier. So here I go...


The sweet little bow headband I wear all the time. My neighbor makes these and they are each so lovely. They also actually stay in place and don't give me a headache.

get involved. The White House needs as much help as it can get.

You might have to go here to completely understand what's going on here. But the story is so amazing. Everytime I go to either I cry and laugh and thank God for these two amazing women.

My favorite flowers! I guess they are a lot of other peoples favorite too.

The cutest cards! Perfect for Valentines day.

5 Course Dinner

Last night we had our friends May and J over for dinner. Mark decided that he wanted to make a 5 course meal, and that all five courses would be things that he never made before! So here's how it went (p.s. I apologize in advance for not taking pictures of everything. I just got really into the food and forgot :( )

We started at 11 am with the farmers market where we picked up veggies, fruits, eggs, and cheese. Then we stopped at three different grocery stores to get the rest of the ingredients which included cornish hens, creme fraiche and ground elk. We started preparing the food around 3pm and kept working until well into the meal. Oh and it ended up being 6 courses.

1. Bread, cheese, and raspberry plate with olive oil/ vinegar dip.

2. Vegetable and elk consomme

3. Crab salad in sweet sesame cones

4. Arugula, cucumber, goat cheese salad

5. Maple glazed cornish hens and rice pilaf with a reduced whisky and mushroom sauce

6. Chocolate sponge cake with almond chocolate sauce and strawberry creme fraiche ice cream

phew. I'm still full.

A lovely weekend

Mark and I had a lovely weekend. We started it off with an estate sale on Saturday. I got a set of sweet flower bowls and a gorgeous pitcher. I also found a glass and wood honey jar that Mark was especially fond of. Mark and I saw Slumdog Millionaire at the Americana and I indulged in popcorn and blue raspberry slushie (amazing!). It was an awesome movie that is sure to win many awards, maybe best picture.

On Sunday we went over to the Farmers Market on Hollywood where we picked up lots of vegetables, some honey for our jar, and flowers for the living room. We also stopped at a stand to get meat pies, fried plantains and lemonade for lunch. Mark had school so I spent the rest of the day drawing. In the evening we decided to cook the extra Thanksgiving turkey that we still had in the freezer. Marks friends from Ohio showed up just in time to help us eat the turkey. They stayed for the next couple of nights and Mark went to the beach with them on monday.

All in all a very good weekend.

p.s. I added more pictures from the Vermont trip of me snowboarding.

Disneyland

Mark and I were invited to go to Disneyland with our friends May and J. It was my first Disney experience so I was especially excited. I had my hopes up for a magical time and it was even better than I expected it to be. Every little detail is carefully thought out at Disney, from their rides to their parking. Each ride took me far away from California into a whole other world. Mark and I have never been to an amusement park together so we had a great time doing something new. I'm already looking forward to going again!

Burlington Vermont

Burlington Vermont is probably one of the prettiest cities I have ever seen. Maybe it's just because I never see snow anymore but there is just something about this quaint little city that makes me miss the east side. The trip was good, it was mostly spent in meetings but I did get to go snowboarding for a couple of hours on Thursday (pictures of that coming soon). My hotel overlooked Lake Champlain and the mountains behind it, something I wouldn't mind waking up to more often.

Ringing in 2009!

Mark was still in Ohio over New Years. He spent the night hanging out with our friends in Columbus while I stayed in L.A. with our friends here. Andrea and I decided to get all dressed up and make little headpieces with feathers and flowers. This is a trend that is quickly growing, especially for parties and weddings. They cost around $100 online but I think that our $10 ones look pretty good.

Christmas time

So it's a little bit late to be posting this but I'm doing it anyway. Above are pictures of our Christmas decorations including a gorgeous 2008 White House Ornament which we received as a gift. We took a series of Christmas photos but the one above is my favorite because the kittens are in it too. And the box of books is my Christmas gift from mark. It is a cake box full of little dessert recipe books. So far I have made white chocolate and pear turnovers and orange cupcakes.

Snowboarding!!!!

I have heard that you are sore after snowboarding. But I think that sore is really the wrong word. It is more like paralyzed.

Andrea, Joey, and I headed to Mountain High last weekend to go snowboarding. I was very excited about learning so I had bought a pass that included lessons. I took my first lesson which was very disappointing, I had hardly learned anything. But then Andrea came to the rescue and actually taught me how to go down the hill without falling a hundred times.

After I got home I thought that I wasn't really that sore until I tried to walk up the steps to our apartment. Then it hit me and I could hardly move for the rest of the night. I kept trying to get off the couch and I really couldn't get up. After days of stretching I was finally back to normal.

I plan on being a pro snowboarder by the end of the season so I guess my body is just going to have to get use to it.

Craft Night

Andrea has started a weekly gathering for craft night. She kicked it off this past week and we had a decent turn out. It's a great way to break up the week and to actually make those things that we always talk about making. Last week Andrea made a map collage for her room and I worked on sewing up some Christmas gifts. Other crafts include: experimental photography, gift wrapping, stencil making, drawing, and sewing. The theme next week is "puppets" so that should be interesting.

Think about it

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

This is a lighter video about a very heavy subject that is close to my heart. It breaks my heart that one day I may have to explain to my children why we still don't have equality in the United States. It breaks my heart even more that so many people are professing love while spreading hate. Of course these are my personal opinions and I don't expect you to agree. But at least think about it.