This is just the beginning (depending how you look at it)

Um,  will you still like my blog if I post most of these pictures again in a more collective  post that makes a bit more sense?

Call me today or tomorrow, but do NOT call me tonight!

(I briefly posted this the day of this show's premier, only to see that their image didn't fully come through ... buuuut, here it is anyway)

Uhh, can you tell Me likey?

No DVR +  a love for DANCE= Attention for one thing only while this show is on!

Would you say I'm a bit obsessed?

Just the Two of Us!

Does anyone else find this picture hilarious? Ok, maybe not quite hilarious (almost though), but really funny?

(...cheesy, odd proportions, Taya's cooperation with folded arms? ... It's all funny to me ... I can't even remember why we thought to take this picture in the moment...)

My brother who is in film school has a policy against seeing any movies in which the two main characters are standing back to back, arms folded, perma-grins & all ... so this one is for you Ty!

W-w-w-wants

I just wanted to say Hello.  Hello blahblahBlog.  (That reminds me; as a kid, when you wrote in your diary, did you address it as 'Dear Diary' and talk to it like your best girlfriend?  I always found that amusing ... now as grown up online diary writers, we can say 'Hello Blog' in a Pollyanna-like voice, whach U think about that?)

I haven't had time to do my follow up post to that last interior design survey ... my thoughts will come soon (I want to pull together some ideal pictures as ideas and examples ... can anyone tell me where to get great photos for blogs? ...Variety to choose from, crisp clean photos?  Are Flickr and Photobucket my main options?  I especially want to draw from great interior design photos ... if you have a tip, let me know!)  Sometimes the next post I want to do that takes more time keeps me from posting all the little things I think of in the meantime!  

Which leads me to what is on my mind ...  WHAT I WANT ....

I want a digital SLR camera - I have been wanting this for some time.  I saved funds to contribute to my known high school graduation camera so that I could get an upgraded choice/35 mm ; then about 5 years ago, my poor visual tool companion disappeared (I think movers might have taken it) ... I never quite learned all the tricks and tools to use the potential of that camera, but my desire to take eye candy has been inspired again in recent years and I dream of the day when we will bring home a digital SLR.  I absolutely love beautiful photos - especially on bloggy-blogs.   A picture of a carrot, a picture of a trash can, if done beautifully - I don't care, I love it!

Ok, side tracked.

I want to cook a lot for years and years.  I want to cook with wholesome foods and I really want to share a love of food and cooking with my children; my family.  I want to treat food in a way that inspires my kids to try new things (ironic coming from a person who still nitpicks at a few certain items); and I want to treat cooking in a way that lets my children know that I cook for them because I love them, and that I cherish the nourishment available on this earth, and brought to our home.  I want them to be grateful for the amazing variety of nourishment provided to us by our God; an area of life that we can display self-control in, creativity in, and use of our senses in.  I've been thinking recently about how it helps if I just know I will spend a lot of time in the kitchen - it's a social place and conducive to great learning; if I just become okay with the idea of cooking day in and day out, I think my family and I will enjoy it all more.  (Believe me, even though I love food and often love cooking, I'm not all cheer about it all the time - which might be the inspiration for my want here - some of my more dramatically stressed moments are over cooking gone wrong - and I have plenty of days lacking inspiration of what to cook!) .. But I love the idea of food bringing happiness and inspiration to our lives since it is something we partake of multiple times a day every day.

I want to plant a garden someday ... sooner ... or later (I'm still a little intimidated by it, and feel like we need to save some funds for its start-up).  I love the idea of eating right out of the garden, of watching my children observe and nurture the growing of living things, and of supplying ourselves with some of our own food (do you like how I have one child, but constantly say children instead of child?; I guess that comes with a lot of assumptions & expectations, but it comes with no hints, I repeat, no hints).

I want to have a home that is inspiring for learning, creativity, art, growing, (of course loving - and I don't mean that minimally), and did I mention creativity?  Paul made me a card for Mother's Day (plus crepes for a morning of breakfast in bed!) that had Taya's colorful scribbles all over the front & back ... I look forward to more and more children's art displayed around the house, and adorning Paul's work desk.  

I want to teach my children to love themselves; to know they are children of God, to not measure their worth based off of others' opinions or upon other factors that will offset them.  I think the best way we can teach them this is to continually be grounded in our own self-worth; to love ourselves because God loves us, to know that we always need the help of our Savior and the Atonement, that we cannot do it all on our own - because we are human and are subject to normal human error.  I am continually learning more about this, even when I thought I already knew some.  And I think it is one of the most, if not the most crucial basis to having personal peace and to raising a grounded family - and one of peace.  

I want to have a home of laughter.  Finding humor in the big and little moments, in the serious and silly moments - is such a breath of fresh air - such a sanity saver.  I've been cracking jokes all week; cracking myself up, and getting a smile out of Paul here and there, possibly more because I find myself so amusing, but hey - whatever works!  My jokes hadn't come to mind as much in the past few weeks and this week has been much easier (most of the time)!  My Dad cracks some of the funniest comments around and my Mom is one of the funnest people to laugh with - laughing is definitely an activity in my family.  I'm glad I found a man who makes me laugh.  Taya shares her own sense of humor already too.  I love it.

I wants plenty of things; some may come, some may not - or all in their own timing.  This is not a wish list with discouragement/I better get it done or else! --  It's more of my fond wish list (and have I mentioned I'm a bit idealistic?) - these are just some of the things I find myself daydreaming of these days.

What do you daydream of?  

p.s.  some of my temporal daydreams include crafty creations from Etsy members like these ...

 

A Peek of Preferences

So this along with a few others, is a post I started and never finished in this last month; so while I wait to make some sense of it to you, what are your captions?  

Or what do you think I was going to say about it?  

It's our little game.

Humor me.

And don't you like my title there?  It has a ring to it, if I do say so myself (that is the most self-praising phrase I throw around on this blog occassionally isn't it?)

This makes me want to cook!

What do you get from this post?

Write a 300 hundred word essay on it and get back to me.

Interior Design - what do you prefer?

I want to know what makes an ideal home interior to you? Do you want the aesthetics to have a calming, peaceful effect? Or a warm comfy effect? What about a more eclectic & artsy take? ...Simple & minimal or cozy and filled with memorable items?  As you get into styles, do you want absolute classic; and if so, do you want a more simple classic or a more ornate classic?  What about rustic?  Do you want modern, (or are you intrigued by it, but feel you can't pull it off or that it would be trendy)? Forget about cost or exactly what you think you CAN do; what overall feel do you want to your home?

How much do you think the feel of your home affects you and your family? Is it something worth a lot of effort to you? -(and yes over time, some of the money will add up some, but there are less expensive ways to keep it beautiful!)

I want to know what you want out of your home! Even if you feel it's full of hand-me-downs with no room for spending at this moment, I want to know what you envision as your happy interior.

This living room combines a sense of calmness with accents of warmth and artistic touches, but overall, gives an unassuming yet well designed comfort and ease on the eye.  Some of the good things working for this living space include: good use of peaceful muted colors for the large color items (walls, couches) combined with small accents of bright colors (pillows, accessories), nice display clusters (vases, accessories off center complementing their supporting furniture instead of competing with it), radial variation (ie. round table -child friendly!- & circular pillow pattern to soften up all of the squared off lines), and last for now; good area rug use (ie. throwing a rug down on hard floors as opposed to carpet, as well as overlapping furniture on it; it is always good to overlap furniture legs or at least a coffee table on an area rug - otherwise, it feels a bit empty and awkward).  

The main thing I would possibly change is the oversized pictures on the tv wall; I think the homeowners might be trying to make that wall the focal point wall instead of the fireplace wall (which I think could have been a great focal point wall, '70s era and all); they still could have achieved this with slightly smaller picture frames or a different decor arrangement.

****

I truly do want to help friends and family decorate their homes when they want my help - I'm not just saying that; I really want the experience because it is something I love and want to become more experienced at.  This does not mean I will try to push my personal taste of modern on you or that you need to spend a lot of money on buying furniture or accessories (I actually like the challenge of taking what furniture and accessories you have & rearranging it all for the most comfortable flow and feel in the home - this is especially important if your home is listed in the real estate market).  So if you're up for my interior opinions and ideas, let me know!  This can be done long distance as well with pictures/descriptions.

Pure ...

Heaven ...

This homemade buttermilk syrup & this Belgian waffle recipe topped with real whipped cream & fresh strawberries throw a party in your mouth/combine for exquisite dreamland/provide scrumptiously lucious pleasance for your taste buds!!

(If you are a food critic, please take my food critic language satire lightly!  ..... What?   You don't think I could possibly attract a food critic with this post?)

(FYI:  Did you know you can skip buying butter milk and instead stir together 1 Tbsp. lemon juice or vinegar with almost 1 C. milk, let it sit for 5 minutes & then call it good as buttermilk? ..Works like a charm!)

(If you decide to make this breakfast, don't say I didn't warn you of snow mound-like amounts of sugar requirements - I'm warning you now)

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(Just wanted to do one more set of ( )   )