Earth Hour...

I participated in Earth-Hour Saturday. From 8pm - 9pm everyone around the world was encouraged to turn off every light in their house as an effort to conserve energy. So how did I spend my hour - glad you asked. First I stumbled around my apartment to find candles and matches. Then I set them up in the living room and bath room and took a bath... haven't taken a bath in a while... and can I tell you my bath tub sucks. It is way too small and uncomfortable. By the time I got cozied up and ready for bed, the hour was up and the lights came back on. I think I may do something that quieting and relaxing more often. It was lovely.

Fresh flowers and Emy-girl

I love fresh flowers!! I have been obsessed with having a bouquet of fresh flowers on my kitchen table. It makes my house smell so fresh and earthy when I breeze through the door. My favorite flowers are lilies so I bought a bouquet of hot pink lilies at the grocery store and they have been blooming all week. They are so pretty


Speaking of pretty... I just spent an afternoon with my girl Emolyn. Shawn, Nicole, and I watched Enchanted while Emy slept in my arms... she is so amazing and beautiful. She makes the funniest faces and has the biggest eyes. I love her "kissy face" when she purses her lips and raises her eyebrows. What a charmer she is. I could hardly draw my eyes away from her!! I also loved watching Nicole being a mommy and Shawn being a daddy. Nicole is amazing... it is mesmerizing to watch - it is just so cool watching her love and adore her daughter. Watching Shawn is a trip!! He loves kissing Emy and snuggling with her. Emolyn loves nothing more than to cuddle with her daddy, I can tell.

Aunt Miranda and the pip-squeak

Something new...

I had quite a day of trying new things. First off I dyed my hair a new color... unfortunately it is in the "no styling product" stage, so picture will have to wait until I make it look pretty... but it's dark warm brown, which means it has more red in it.

Then after getting my hair dyed, I went to a tanning spa... that's right - pale little me is wanting to tan this year. I didn't last year and instead went to the beach as pale as ever and burned as red as a lobster. So this year tanning is just a precaution. I got a coupon where my first 3 sessions are totally free!! So I am gonna get a base tan so I don't get sun poisoning.

I was inspired by the thought of being tan and so I went out and did something that I haven't done in over five years... I BOUGHT SHORTS!!! Not bermuda shorts, because I have those... but I bought actual short shorts!! (they have a 3 1/2" seam so they aren't terribly short).

So that is my day!! I will hopefully get some pictures of my hair soon.

Emolyn's first Easter

Isn't she just a button!! Nicole emailed these pictures to us from yesterday. That is her Easter dress made special for her by Meredith's mom Lynette. The eyelet pattern is meant to only be a border in the fabric... but it makes up pretty much a majority of the dress for Emy.
She is doing so well and improving so much. She had her feeding tube taken out because she is eating so well out of the bottles. We are anxious for her to go home!

Tyler's Birthday...

Saturday night we celebrated Tyler's birthday at Peter Piper Pizza... The party consisted of Mom, Dad, Shawn, Nicole, Zac, Tyler, and I. As soon as we walked through the doors, it was like we reverted to being 6 years old all over again. Shawn and Tyler had a basketball tournament, Nicole and I had a skee ball tournament, and all of us ate our weight in pizza (maybe not our weight...). Tyler hit the jackpot on several different games and after about 30 minutes of game playing, the rest of us pooled our tickets and gave them to Tyler so he could get a great gift... he got the green, light up, angry-face ball-thingy. Enjoy the pics

An afternoon with Emolyn...

My sweet little niece will be 1 month old on Saturday!! I got to see her today and hold her for the very first time!! Here is a picture of our little time together...


She is so precious and the whole time I held her she slept and would wake up to suck on her pacifier and grunt and squeak a little... she is such a little piglet.

This is one of my favorite pictures of her... Nicole and Shawn got it right after a bath. She even has a towel wrapped around her little head... such a pampered little lady.

Pinkerton Photography blog...

Kelsie just started a blog about her photography!!

Check it out here.

Finals are over...

At the Arizona School of Massage Therapy we don't get a Spring break - it sucks... for both students and staff. This week has been finals week for the Massage therapists in training, and i have been grading away fervently to get students complete and ready for next quarter. With all my labor and hard work, I find it disheartening that on monday the whole process of a 10 week quarter starts all over again - with the same classes, just different students. I know it has only been 10 weeks since my 3 week vacation... i think it is the educational system. After 17 years inside a educational system that instilled fall break, winter break, spring break, and of course the 3 month summer vacation, my body clock is programmed to need a week vacation around this time. Alas, no relief in sight.

I am however done with my particular finals and will spend all day tomorrow in my office grading my tests and probably other people's - because I am just that helpful. It is nice to have the stress of testing done with. Now I am on to study sessions with those students that failed and need to retake tests.

I am really getting into "to do" lists... I have 2 small note pads in my possession (one for the office and one for personal use). I write down absolutely everything I have to accomplish... whether it be grocery shopping or apply for ASU or call nicole... everything is on there. I am a little OCD and lists keep me organized and efficient. My absolute favorite part about my list is crossing this off of it... I get such a rush. I bought the big thick permanent marker so when I cross off something what is left is a big black mark... it is so incredibly rewarding. I am finding i am much less overwhelmed and anxious with this method, because I don't sit around thinking, "I was supposed to get something done and there is something I am not doing..." Great times.
Some of the things I have crossed off my list this week that make me happy:

1. Apply to ASU - that's right I sent in my admissions application. I am waiting for that to be processed and then I'll send my transcripts and admissions check. Then I will meet with someone in the Liberal Arts college and see about what I can do to get my bachelors in two years in Interdisciplinary Liberal Studies.

2. Email Sylvia Thompson - she is my cousin Matt's wife and both of them and their little boy Elijah are living in Germany. They are the ones I am hoping to go visit this August. Although I learned Matt will be out of the country during that time, I will hopefully still go and just hang out with Sylvia and Elijah.

3. Get rid of old clothes - I have three boxes of clothes and shoes and purses just sitting in my house. But, tomorrow night I will be rid of them. Our college age group girls are having a "Naked Lady Party" or as I call it "A Bit@h 'n Swap". We are all getting together and trading clothes... so hopefully I will come back tomorrow night with some new threads and be rid of my old ones. It should be fun and mostly I am just excited about getting to hang out with these girls. Super fun!!

That's that.

Nicole's shower...

We had a small shower for nicole this weekend with the just the girls. Mostly it was to help her arrange the nursery before baby Emolyn comes home (which still is not for a couple weeks, but the crib is coming soon so things needed to be arranged). It was really fun to watch Nicole open tons of cute outfits for Emy. granted even the onsies for preemies still are too big for her, but she will be stylin' for a while yet. Then we all descended upon the nursery and within 15 minutes we had it looking absolutely precious. Here are some pictures...

Kelsie's cuter than cute outfit.



Meredith's cuter than cute dress.

I can safely say that at no other baby shower do people take the time to take eachother's blood pressure, but when you have 4 nurses in attendance your baby shower games get a little interesting... I have to say I was a perfect 120 over 80.

Nicole seeing our work on Emy's room... it was a glorified "catch-all" room before, but we are amazing decorators.



Nicole and I

Everyone eating the delicious breakfast and watching Nicole demo the baby stroller from my parents.


Nicole, Grandma Beckie, and Grammy

post traumatic stress... but with musical numbers

I went to see my old high school's spring musical tonight. They did "Thoroughly Modern Millie"... it's was a good show, not the best, but it was good.

I went with my friend Kendra, which was really great. We were in all the Marcos musicals together and loved being in shows. The entire performance we kept leaning over to each other telling the other how much we wanted to be up on stage performing, or how we would have done a certain number better, or who we would have cast out of our classmates in each part. It was a blast. It was also rather entertaining to see our old choir director and choreographers from back in the day. I am always so surprised that they even still know who I am... and on top of that - know my name. It was really honoring that even after almost 5 years, I hold a place in Marcos theatrical history.

I really would love to do a show someday again... but it is not in the cards for me at the moment, with my job. But, who knows what the future holds. (I know Nancy and my mom are reading this thinking how they would want that too). I must say that I do miss it a lot... the smell of aqua-net back stage, being on stage right before the curtains open and the overture plays, the actor traditions, the superstitions, dance tights, character heels, being thrown up into the air in the middle of a dance number, belting at the top of your voice every note you can hit, and being apart of a company of actors and performers... so close and intimate for this concentrated amount of time - you become like family... being apart of a cast was really the best.

Here is a picture I took of my high school auditorium so that I would never forget it... or the feels and experiences that I had there.

As promised...

I have been doing a little redecorating in my apartment... after living here for a year things had finally settled into place and so of course it was time to rearrange everything.
I got this beautiful couch in the As-is section of Ikea... I went looking for some shelves for my entertainment unit and stumbled upon this little beauty. It was originally $500 and I got it for only $230... what a steal!

Here is a picture of my apartment before to give you an idea...



I also am getting rid of my entertainment unit... mainly because it doesn't go with anything in my apartment... so here is before...

and after...

I am eventually going to get some shelves to go above the TV so I can spread out that stereo stuff. But it makes my living room look so much bigger.

Of course once I rearranged one thing in my house the entire place got sent into disarray. My old couch went into my second bedroom which now I need to reorganize that room (or actually be honest organize in the first place). Then I moved my bedside table to be next to the couch, because it looks so awesome, but now I have to re organize my new bedside table. It will never stop.

I also want to share with you my delicious pizza that I made the other night. I am so enjoying my new pampered chef tools and cook books. This pizza has three cheeses (Mozzarella, cheddar, and parmesan... but I think next time instead of cheddar I'm gonna try asiago cheese), also zuccini, onion, tomatoes, mushrooms, and I put chicken on it although the recipe doesn't call for that. It was really very good and super easy!!


Tomorrow I am going to have a La Stone treatment from my friend Michele... it is where I get massaged with smooth stones and when I watched a demonstration, watching it alone made me almost fall asleep!! I am beyond exciting. It is great timing since I am so tired and sore from moving heavy furniture around my house.

P.S. If anyone is interested in my TV unit I'm thinking for $25 it's yours.

post to come...

I have pictures to share with you all, but I can't find the wire that hooks my camera into my computer... bummer. Hopefully it'll turn up tomorrow before I go to work.

I also just watched the Office Season 3 finale where Jim asks Pam out on a date... I love that episode!!

Trust me... a cool post is coming.