day-by-day

2007-04-01T15:15:00.000-07:00

The bleeding heart is coming back!!! Spring is so great :)

2007-04-01T15:11:00.000-07:00

This is the interior of a tulip magnolia. Andrew and I went to the Morris Arboretum today. It was wonderful despite the cloudy skies and slightly chilly temperatures. There quite a few things in bloom, including some magnolia and cherry trees. There was also a witch hazel that we came across that was still in bloom; it smelled simply divine!!

*This is my post from Saturday, March 31, 2007. This post is late. Uh huh...

2007-04-01T15:06:00.000-07:00

It's so great to see things coming up in the garden!! This is photo of a plant that we planted in front of the downspout in the front of the house. It is reddish-purple with white flowers that smell like vanilla or garbage, depending on what source you look at... I don't remember what the name of it is. I'm sure that the tag is somewhere in the basement... Anyway, it didn't do so well last year but seems to be doing quite well so far this year!! Exciting!!!

*This is my post from Friday, March 30, 2007. This post is late. Uh huh...

2007-04-01T15:02:00.000-07:00

This new fan was a real life saver this week!! It has been quite warm here and the university refuses to turn off the heat!!! The fan is little but very powerful; however, it makes it bit hard to keep papers on my desk when it's running and it also dries my eyes out if it is blowing on my face.

*This is my post from Thursday, March 29, 2007. This post is late. Uh huh...

2007-03-28T17:16:00.000-07:00

So, Andrew had a somewhat rough term this past winter and he also has had to stay late at work every night this week. Overall, he has seemed a little overwhelmed and down and so I thought it would be nice to get him a little present. What I purchased was a mug from one of his favorite video podcasts, Dylan's Couch. It's a bit weird but funny nonetheless. You should check it out.

2007-03-27T17:26:00.000-07:00

Yes; these are the holiday lights. Yes; they are still hanging up on our front porch. It's a good thing too. Our normal outdoor lights are not cooperating... We'll have to get someone to take a look at them. We spent the evening on the front porch, enjoying the lovely weather. These twinkly little lights provided our illumination.

2007-03-26T20:18:00.000-07:00

I prepared the guinea pig veggies for the week this evening. This is the sink full of greens that I cut up, washed, dried and stored for the piggies. My two boys will go through all of this in a week to a week and a half. They are very hungry piggies!! So cute...

2007-03-26T20:13:00.000-07:00

While I was sitting on the front porch reading and eating some very tasty Doritos, the neighborhood cat came up and walked through our front yard. He or she (not sure which) proceeded to lie on the pavement in front of Andrew's car for a little while. I moved closer to take a picture and the cat came up to me and let me pet him/her. He/she then sat on our sidewalk and relaxed. I think that the cat is very beautiful and he/she is so friendly. If I have a cat, I hope that it is like this one, only inside.

*This is my post from Sunday, March 25, 2007. This post is late. Yeah, yeah, yeah...

2007-03-26T20:11:00.000-07:00

So you all know by now how much I adore lilies. Andrew and I picked these up at Giant supermarket on the way home from Ikea this evening. I was very surprised how nice they are, coming from a supermarket and all.

*This is my post from Saturday, March 24, 2007. This post is late. Yeah, yeah, yeah...

2007-03-26T20:06:00.000-07:00

Spring! Spring!! Spring!!! The crocus remind me of Spring. I love it!!!

*This is my post from Friday, March 23, 2007. This post is late. Yeah, yeah, yeah...

2007-03-22T15:20:00.000-07:00

Number 11 in the "Perspectives on the Cube Life" series. Now for the close-up!! This is the paper that was featured on the Post-it board in yesterday's post. Look!! I've been promoted!!! If only it were true... ;-)

2007-03-21T15:00:00.000-07:00

Number 10 in the "Perspectives on the Cube Life" series. This is my Post-it Board. It is fun and sticky. Things stick to it... ;-) I'll have a close-up of the lonely paper that is one the board tomorrow because it is pretty funny.

2007-03-20T17:39:00.000-07:00

HAPPY SPRING!!! This month's flowers are lilies of the valley. As I have said before, lilies and orchids are my favorite flowers. I especially enjoy lily of the valley and I can't wait until they bloom!!!!

2007-03-20T17:37:00.000-07:00

Number 9 in the "Perspectives on the Cube Life" series. Today my staple remover looked especially shiny. So, I took its picture!!

*This is my post for Monday, March 19, 2007. This post is late. Get used to it...

2007-03-20T17:33:00.000-07:00

I purchased 35 pounds of hay from Washington state for the piggies. It is half second cut timothy and half bluegrass. This is a picture of the bluegrass. Bran and Wyn have never had it before. I hope they like it!! I also hope that I can figure out where to store it all...

*This is my post for Sunday, March 18, 2007. This post is late. Get used to it...

2007-03-20T17:31:00.000-07:00

This is a photo of the calendar that my mom made for Andrew and I. Doesn't it just scream St. Patrick's Day?!

*This is my post for Saturday, March 17, 2007. This post is late. Get used to it...

2007-03-20T17:20:00.000-07:00

Number 8 in the "Perspectives on the Cube Life" series. This is a photo of the magnet that Andrew gave me. Isn't it cute?!

*This is my post for Friday, March 16, 2007. This post is late. Get used to it...

2007-03-20T12:50:00.000-07:00

Number 7 in the "Perspectives on the Cube Life" series. This is my paperclip holder. You can also see the small rubber band ball that I started. No; there is nothing in the ball expect rubber bands... I'm that good. Now, I have to make it bigger!!!

*This is my post for Thursday, March 15, 2007. This post is late. Get used to it...

2007-03-20T12:48:00.000-07:00

Number 6 in the "Perspectives on the Cube Life" series. No; this is not a tiny, green Barney!! It is a remote controller holder that belongs to Andrew. He let me bring it to work and now he holds my cell phone.

*This is my post for Wednesday, March 14, 2007. This post is late. Get used to it...

2007-03-20T12:45:00.000-07:00

Number 5 in the "Perspectives on the Cube Life" series. Cube hooks are an essential part of any well-rounded cube. This one holds my keys. Nifty, huh?!

*This is my post for Tuesday, March 13, 2007. This post is late. Get used to it...

2007-03-20T12:40:00.000-07:00

Number 4 in the "Perspectives on the Cube Life" series. This is a photo of the maneki neko that is under my left-side computer monitor. He is so cute!! Also, he is a little dusty...

*This is my post for Monday, March 12, 2007. This post is late. Get used to it...

2007-03-11T18:25:00.000-07:00

Erin's bridal shower was today. It was at Andrew's parents' house. The decorations and food were just wonderfully beautiful. This is a photo of the votives that were on windowsills all around the room. They were very pretty but I was praying that they didn't catch the shoji screens on fire. Thankfully they didn't...

2007-03-11T07:36:00.000-07:00

There was a fair bit of drinking at our house last night. This is an appletini that I made. They were tasty. Andrew's picture is better though. Check it out here.

*This is my post from Saturday, March 10, 2007. This post is a tad bit late. Kathleen and Adair came last night and I got a little bit distracted...

2007-03-09T19:47:00.000-08:00

I got this crossword magazine while I was at Barnes and Noble the other night. I really have fun doing crosswords despite that I'm horrible at it...

2007-03-08T19:57:00.000-08:00

This is a photo of a drawing I did last night. I don't draw very much but I enjoy it. So, maybe I should try to do it more often. This particular drawing was partly influenced by the reading I did yesterday on the Greek gods Hypnos (god of sleep) and the Oneiroi (gods of dreams)...

2007-03-08T19:54:00.000-08:00

We had snow for most of the day today. It was never very heavy and not much accumulated. The snow that did accumulate, however, was absolutely beautiful. This photo doesn't really do it justice but you get the idea of the wonderful shimmery quality it had. It really looked like the decorative sugar that they use in cake decorating to make it look like snow... Hmm...

*This is my post from Wednesday, March 7, 2007. This post is late. What can I say? Life happens...

2007-03-08T19:50:00.000-08:00

Number 3 in the "Perspectives on the Cube Life" Series. The candy bowl is now full!! I wonder how long that will last... I am currently offering green tea candy, milk candy and CUBYROP.

*This is my post from Tuesday, March 6, 2007. This post is late. What can I say? Life happens...

2007-03-08T19:41:00.000-08:00

Number 2 in the "Perspective on the Cube Life" series. This is a photo of the bowl that I brought into work to be my candy dish. I really like this bowl. I picked it up at a small mom-and-pop dish store that was in the shopping district, of Sannomiya in Kobe, Japan. This one is green on the outside but I also purchased one that is the same as this except it is blue on the outside. That one is still at home. I'm hoping I don't need two candy bowls for my cube...

*This is my post from Monday, March 5, 2007. This post is late. What can I say? Life happens...

2007-03-08T19:37:00.000-08:00

This is a photo of a mug at my parents' house that I thought was kinda cute. Yes; it is Winnie the Pooh and Piglet. I also used it for my coffee that evening. What of it?!

*This is my post from Sunday, March 4, 2007. This post is late. What can I say? Life happens...

2007-03-08T19:26:00.000-08:00

Andrew rediscovered this bag of truffles that he received from a holiday party that he went to at work in our cabinet. We ate some and they are still as tasty as they ever were. Mmmmm... Yummy....

*This is my post from Saturday, March 3, 2007. This post is late. What can I say? Life happens...

2007-03-08T19:19:00.000-08:00

This is a photo of a Japanese marshmallow candy that Andrew picked up during our trip to Mitsuwa. This type of candy consists of a marshmallow that is filled with some sort of filling, in this case it is chocolate. I had this type of candy when I was in Japan and have also bought it from the local Korean market previously. I really like this kind of candy; I would have purchased it because I think that it is tasty. Andrew, on the other hand, purchased this candy because he thought the packaging was cute... Yeah...

*This is my post from Friday, March 2, 2007. This post is late. What can I say? Life happens...

2007-03-08T19:08:00.000-08:00

This is the first in what will become a series of pictures (not necessarily posted on consecutive days) slowly exposing different parts of my new cube before I build up to a picture of the overall cube. I think that I'll call them "Perspectives on the Cube Life". This photo is the first!! It shows my word magnets in their new home. I have arranged them to look like one big paragraph that makes absolutely no sense grammatically, as you can tell from the picture. I just think the arrangement is aesthetically pleasing...

*This is my post from Thursday, March 1, 2007. This post is late. What can I say? Life happens...

2007-02-28T19:28:00.000-08:00

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! It's the attack of the thirty foot inflatable mascot!!!!!!!!! Run for your lives... There was a pep rally for the b-ball teams today in the main court outside of my office suite. It was very, very loud... But there was free food which made it all better; that is, if you weren't trampled to death just trying to get some of it...

2007-02-27T19:03:00.000-08:00

This is a photo of the wonderfully tasty cake that Andrew made for my birthday. It is a Jello cake and it sooooooo good. It has yellow cake, strawberry Jello and lemon icing... Yummy!!! Just like when I was a boy :-) It makes me happy!! I have been having a piece every night since Saturday. So much cake...

2007-02-26T20:06:00.000-08:00

This is a photo of my old cube, cleared out. I moved into my new cube today. It is much more spacious but it'll be hard to say good-bye to the old one... I'll take a picture of the new one once it is clean and organized.

2007-02-26T19:59:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of a really cool book that I bought at Reddinger's mid-Winter sale at Valley Forge Convention Center today. It is a copy of the Kasidah of Haji Abdu El-Yezdi, supposedly translated by Sir Richard Burton, translator of Arabian Nights. I never really heard of the work before but I really loved the illustrations. All of the illustrations have been hand printed. The frontpiece of this book has already fallen out and it is the same as the cover illustration. This is my favorite one in the entire work. I think that I'll frame it for the library...

*This is my post from Sunday, February 25, 2007. This post is late. I am very sorry. I have had a project to do for class that has absolutely kicked my butt!! It has sucked away all of my time this past week and a half...

2007-02-26T19:54:00.000-08:00

These are presents from Deb and Bud. They were wrapped in this cool coppery paper and Deb had applied these really cool sticker strips. Very cute!!

*This is my post from Saturday, February 24, 2007. This post is late. I am very sorry. I have had a project to do for class that has absolutely kicked my butt!! It has sucked away all of my time this past week and a half...

2007-02-26T19:50:00.000-08:00

Look at all the presents from Andrew!! I can't wait to open them!!!! Today has been such a great b-day and I have a feeling it's going to get better!! ;-)

*This is my post from Friday, February 23, 2007. This post is late. I am very sorry. I have had a project to do for class that has absolutely kicked my butt!! It has sucked away all of my time this past week and a half...

2007-02-26T19:47:00.000-08:00

... I smell something tasty...

*This is my post from Thursday, February 22, 2007. This post is late. I am very sorry. I have had a project to do for class that has absolutely kicked my butt!! It has sucked away all of my time this past week and a half...

2007-02-26T19:42:00.000-08:00

This is a photo of the Jasmine plant that came from the collection of plants that Adina and Steph bought us. The flowers are pretty and they smell lovely but they do not last very long...

*This is my post from Wednesday, February 21, 2007. This post is late. I am very sorry. I have had a project to do for class that has absolutely kicked my butt!! It has sucked away all of my time this past week and a half...

2007-02-26T19:35:00.000-08:00

Devil piggies!!!

*This is my post from Tuesday, February 20, 2007. This post is late. I am very sorry. I have had a project to do for class that has absolutely kicked my butt!! It has sucked away all of my time this past week and a half...

2007-02-26T19:29:00.000-08:00

Yep, another view of Ramune, the Japanese soda with the marble in it. I really like it. I forgot to take another picture for today... Oh well...

*This is my post from Monday, February 19, 2007. This post is late. I am very sorry. I have had a project to do for class that has absolutely kicked my butt!! It has sucked away all of my time this past week and a half...

2007-02-26T19:22:00.000-08:00

This is a log house thing that I bought for the boys today. It is supposed to be completely edible. That's a good thing for Bran, who loves to nibble on everything... Wyn seems to have taken it over though.

*This is my post from Sunday, February 18, 2007. This post is late. I am very sorry. I have had a project to do for class that has absolutely kicked my butt!! It has sucked away all of my time this past week and a half...

2007-02-26T19:15:00.000-08:00

This is picture of creamyaki, tasty waffle like things filled with a sweetened cream cheese type filling. It was a great fiasco getting them but they were so, so worth it!!! Just wonderfully tasty...

*This is my post from Saturday, February 17, 2007. This post is late. I am very sorry. I have had a project to do for class that has absolutely kicked my butt!! It has sucked away all of my time this past week and a half...

2007-02-26T19:12:00.000-08:00

Bran really loves to hide in the hay rack that I made. It makes me a little nervous but he seems to get out just fine... What a cute little piggie!! :-)

*This is my post from Friday, February 16, 2007. This post is late. I am very sorry. I have had a project to do for class that has absolutely kicked my butt!! It has sucked away all of my time this past week and a half...

2007-02-26T19:04:00.000-08:00

The tulips are dying!! The tulips are dying!! How sad!!!! :-(

*This is my post from Thursday, February 15, 2007. This post is late. I am very sorry. I have had a project to do for class that has absolutely kicked my butt!! It has sucked away all of my time this past week and a half...

2007-02-14T18:05:00.000-08:00

This is a close-up of one of the Valentine's Day cards that Andrew gave me today. He slipped them into my bag sometime when I wasn't looking and I found them this morning when I went to get my iPod out at work. I was so surprised. It was the best. I cried a little. This card was really cool because it had a really interesting texture. You can kind of see it in the picture...

2007-02-13T19:06:00.000-08:00

So, it is only fair that I post a picture of Wyn by himself after a post of Bran by himself yesterday. This is Wyn peeking out of the oatmeal container. Wyn is kind of shy and here he is trying to decide whether it is safe to come out or not... Oh no, I might bite!!! ;-)

2007-02-12T19:32:00.000-08:00

During lap time tonight, I tried to take some close-up photos of the boys. Bran was being very inquisitive. Here he is stalking the camera. He even tried to nibble it a little...

2007-02-11T19:38:00.000-08:00

So, without further ado... Here they are... My two new boys, Bran (the brown and white one in front) and Wyn (the white and black one in back). Aren't they the cutest? Here they are enjoying some tasty salad and pellets. They are still afraid of Andrew and me, though. They are getting better...

2007-02-11T18:52:00.000-08:00

Can you guess what this is?! It's my new guinea pig cage!!! I built it myself. I was going to purchase it from this really great site, Cavy Cages; but, Andrew convinced me to try to build it on my own using the instructions at this site. The grates are the ones that you would use to build those wire cube things. We purchased them at Bed, Bath and Beyond; what a steal!! I really love their willingness to take their expired coupons... ;-) The tray inset is made of this stuff called coroplast. Coroplast is the corrugated plastic material that is used to make those lawn signs that become so ubiquitous around elections season. This stuff is pretty hard to come by in its plain, giant sheet form, which I needed for this project. There is this really great store
near our house called Rodon Signs. The owner was in the shop on Saturday morning when I called, when the store wasn't even open. He let me come in and buy a sheet anyway. Then because I didn't have any cash on me, he said I could just bring the money for it in some other time. Then he cut the sheet for me to the size I needed. He was a such a big help and an all-around, really great guy!! Andrew was also really great for shuttling me around and putting up with me trying to get the 4' x 8' sheet for coroplast in the car to come home :-) What a nightmare that was!!

Anyway, so, I built this new deluxe cage for my brand new guinea pigs that I got today!!! I'm sorry that I didn't picture them but they were hard to photograph when they were hiding in their little house... That and I wanted them to get a little more used to the house before I stuck the camera in their faces. I will post a photo of them tomorrow. You'll also have to wait until tomorrow for their names because I haven't named them yet...

*This is my post from Saturday, February 10, 2007. This post is late. Andrew and I went to Heather's fabulous game party last night and had so much fun that we didn't get back until about 1 in the morning. I was too tired to post after tending to and spending some time with the piggies...

2007-02-09T19:05:00.000-08:00

Andrew and I stopped by the local PetSmart tonight so that I could prove to him that they didn't sell guinea pig cages that are big enough. We also looked at all the cute little animals. The had some cats for adoption and they were so, so, so cute. They also had quite a few adorable guinea pigs!!!!!!! I can't wait to get one or two!! I wish that I could have gotten them tonight... Soon, soon... This is a picture of me doing some more research to prepare for my new pets.

2007-02-08T18:57:00.000-08:00

There was a pentacle on the top of my soup container at lunch. It was totally unexpected!! Was I eating sacred soup?! Hmmm....

2007-02-07T19:10:00.000-08:00

I did a lot of reading tonight. A lot... Not necessarily all for class. This is a picture of one of the pages in one of my textbooks.

2007-02-06T17:10:00.000-08:00

So, I am home alone for dinner tonight because Andrew is going to dinner with people at work. I am having peanut butter and marshmallow fluff sandwiches for dinner!!! This is a photo of one of my partly eaten sandwiches. Doesn't it look tasty?!

2007-02-05T16:59:00.000-08:00

Andrew and I moved this dresser to its new home (shown above) in our bedroom tonight. It used to be in our back bedroom, which acts as our office/guest room. It is the warmest room in our house. As such, it would be the perfect place to house my guinea pig!! So, that is where I'm going to keep the cage. We had to move this dresser out to make room for the cage that I want to get. I can't wait until I can get it!!! I think that I'm going to order the cage today or tomorrow so that I can get everything set up ahead of time.

2007-02-05T16:10:00.000-08:00

Andrew bought me a waffle maker for the holidays and today was my first attempt at using it. After a slight mishap at the beginning, which you can read about on Andrew's blog, I got waffles that looked halfway decent. Unfortunately, they didn't have very much wafflely flavor. So, I think it is time to start searching for a new waffle recipe...

*This is my post from Sunday, February 4, 2007. This post is late. Andrew's parents' impromptu Super Bowl party was just too much fun to post during and it was time to go to sleep when I got home.

2007-02-03T20:43:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of the knitting project that I started quite a few months ago. I have been so bad about knitting lately. In fact, I have been very bad about getting most things done lately... Work and school take up way too much time!! Oh well... I can't wait until I have a lot of time to just do what I want: knit, cook, bake, garden, read, write, play video games, take pictures... So much to do!!

2007-02-02T20:53:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I took this photo yesterday and not today but I really wanted to post it. Turns out the bulbs that we received contained both daffodils and tulips. I really love these flowers. The daffodils, as you can see in the picture, have this really nice peachy color instead of the typical bright yellow. They are very nice. The tulips are perfectly shaped and really look nice intermingled with the daffodils. Thanks Adina and Steph!! You two are the best :-D

2007-02-01T17:13:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of one of my computer screens at work. I have a paper to write for class that is driving me crazy!! Can someone tell me how I'm supposed to cram a 20 page paper into 6-8 pages?! I really need to get back into the whole paper writing thing...

2007-01-31T16:40:00.000-08:00

For those of you who don't know what this is, I will tell you. It is a water cooler water bottle. An empty bottle, to be exact. It seems that I am always having to change the bottle when I go to get water. In fact, I sometimes feel like I am the only one who replaces the empty bottle on the water cooler? Everyone in the office drinks the water; at almost any time of day, one of my coworkers can be seen getting water from the water cooler. Not when it's empty, though. At these times, they avoid it like the plague... Maybe I should follow their example.

2007-01-30T18:34:00.000-08:00

Well, it looks like I didn't have to wait too long. They've bloomed!! was right; they are daffodils. Aren't they beautiful?

2007-01-29T18:37:00.000-08:00

The bulbs that Adina and Steph sent us are about to flower. I can't wait. They look like they may be daffodils. I'll guess we'll find out in a few days. I will post a new picture once they fully bloom. :-D

Sorry about the bad quality of the photo. There just isn't enough light in the guest room at night...

2007-01-28T19:38:00.000-08:00

This is Harvey, my little sister's guinea pig. Isn't he the cutest little thing you've every seen?! I love guinea pigs!! I really want to get one or two. Harvey was very cute tonight. He was very energetic. It was kind of hard to take pictures of him, though, because he was moving so much.

2007-01-28T19:26:00.000-08:00

Yes, I am aware that this is almost exactly the same picture that Andrew posted for the day. What can I say? I took this picture myself and it's better. Obviously!! Just kidding... Anyway, this is one of the many signs on the building that houses the barber shop that Andrew and I go to to get our hair cuts. We don't go there often enough. We have decided that we are going to start going more often. That way our hair doesn't look like crap most of the time.

*This is my post from Saturday, January 17, 2007. This post is late. Andrew and I watched a movie together last night. By the time it was done after midnight, I just couldn't muster the energy to do anything but get into bed. Even that was a chore...

2007-01-26T21:43:00.000-08:00

Our neighbors invited us to go with them to a television preview thing tonight. This is the line that we were faced with when we got to the hotel in which it was taking place. It looks like there were a lot of excited people. They really shouldn't have been so excited. The whole experience really sucked. We sat in a room with about 200 people for two and a half hours and watched tiny TV screens that were on the other side of the room. The shows were crappy and there were more questions about the commercials than there were about the shows. Makes me suspect that the real goal was to collect data for advertisers (mostly of toilet paper, acid reflux medicines and frequent urination problems) not about the shows. To top it all off there was no compensation. We weren't even provided with water. So, if ever invited to go to a Television Preview event, don't go!!

2007-01-25T16:25:00.000-08:00

It's Girl Scout cookie season again. Andrew is trying to make me fatter by brining me cookies... Joy!!

2007-01-24T17:15:00.000-08:00

One of my coworkers who traveled to Germany brought in presents today. I really love presents!! This is a photo of what I got. It is a mug from one of the Christmas shops that she visited during her trip. I really like it. It is a very simple design and I like the stamped images. It doesn't have a handle so it reminds me of Japanese tea cups. The stamp that can be seen in the photo says "Esslingen am Neckar", the name of the town in which she purchased this mug. The front has an impression of a guy and a dog. I can't wait to use it!!

2007-01-23T18:33:00.000-08:00

Last week my boss decided to bring into the office all of the teas that he received as part of Teavana's Tea of the Month Club. As a result, I have had the opportunity to sample many of the tasty Teavana teas. This morning I tried one called Jasmine Dragon Phoenix Pearls. It is a green tea where all the leaves are rolled into little balls. As they steep, the balls pop open and the leaves unfurl like they are in this picture. Cool!!

2007-01-22T17:29:00.000-08:00

I finally go it today - my free iPod!! I got this iPod for being part of a School of Education program at my university. It is part of an initiative called iPods in Education. You can read an article about the program here. I can't wait to fill up all 30 wonderful gigabites, or rather what is left after the software is updated. Oh yeah, don't steal music!! It could be bad for your health...

2007-01-21T13:59:00.000-08:00

It's moss!!! And I love it!!!!! Andrew and I went to the Morris Arboretum today. It was very, very cold, but I still managed to take over 200 pictures. There is always so much to see there, no matter what season it is; it is very surprising. The reason that we went today was to see the witch-hazels that we really love. Witch-hazel usually bloom in January; however, it looks like they bloomed earlier this year because of the unseasonably warm weather. The blossoms on all the trees we found were dying and starting to shrivel. Witch-hazel is great because the flowers bloom in the winter and they smell great. The flowers are generally made up of some combination of yellow, orange, red and deep purples. They really are beautiful. I also really like moss and this really cool moss was growing on one of the walls at the arboretum. No, the white stuff is not snow. It is some sort of moss or fungus; I'm not really sure.

2007-01-20T20:32:00.000-08:00

Today was a very busy day!! One of the places we went to was Maido!, a very tiny Japanese market in Narberth, PA. Although it was very small, it had quite a few good products. They had several Japanese products that we don't usually see in the Korean market near our house. They also have a lunch counter where one of the owners makes a few typically Japanese dishes. We had a very, very tasty lunch - yakisoba, gyuudon, miso soup and onigiri. I definitely want to go back often. Luckily, it is right next to the train station :-)

2007-01-19T19:19:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of a cookbook that Andrew's mom had out when we were at his parents' house. Andrew's mom said that I could borrow it and so I did. I can't wait to try some of the recipes.

2007-01-18T18:30:00.000-08:00

This is the pathetic amount of snow that actually stuck to the ground after hours of snow flurries. Not quite the three foot snow drifts I was hoping for... Oh well...

2007-01-17T17:22:00.000-08:00

That's right; can you feel the fire?! This sign is up in the lobby of our main administrative building on campus. It used to be a holiday message spelled out in tiny blue and gold holiday lights. Now, it is this. Same type of construction; different message. I am assuming this is referring to our current upward swing in men's basketball. I could be wrong, though... Maybe it is an advertisement for a new culinary arts program, specializing in outdoor cooking techniques... Like that would happen!! I guess without a football team, we have to have something to get fired up about. GO DRAGONS!!

2007-01-16T16:04:00.000-08:00

The bulbs that Adina and Steph sent are really starting to take off!! Thank you so much for the wonderful present!!! I love plants :-) I don't know what they are; it'll be a surprise.

2007-01-15T16:41:00.000-08:00

The time has finally come to take down all of the holiday decorations :-( We took out the tree last night and now I am left with taking down and putting away the rest of the decorations. The worst part about the holiday un-decorating is the mess that it makes before it is all put away. I hate this part!!! Grrr... (can you hear me roaring?!) This is only a small part of the mess that will ensue over the next week or so.

2007-01-14T17:04:00.000-08:00

I must confess that I think that I might have a small obsession with eggs. I really love the way they taste and I am fascinated by the way that they look, both inside and out. While I was cracking eggs to make cookies today, I thought: "I should take a picture of these and see how they come out." This is what I got. Ok; I did adjust the midtones and contrast a smidgen, but this is almost exactly how one of the series of pictures I took turned out. I just love it!! You should click on it to see the full-sized version. Go ahead... You won't be disappointed.

2007-01-14T16:22:00.000-08:00

So, Andrew's parents and Andrew and I were playing cards tonight. I always have fun playing cards with Andrew and his family!! On this particular night, we were playing Euchre. What is pictured above is one of the hands that I had last night. For those of you know Euchre, clubs was trump. For those of you who don't play Euchre, this is the best hand that you can have!! For the hand that we were playing, the cards pictured here are the top five cards in the deck. Needless to say, Andrew was upset that I got this hand. Andrew thinks that he can't win anything that takes luck; only things that require only skill, with absolutely no chance involved. When he was trying to explain this concept, however, he kind of made it seem that I could only win things that require luck. Does this mean that he thinks I don't have any skills? Hmmm......

*This is my post from Saturday, January 13, 2007. This post is late because, by the time we got home last night, it was already today... I think that Saturdays might become a problem for me and these photo-a-day blog projects. Oh well...

2007-01-12T16:12:00.000-08:00

So, I'm not alone!!! And it's not my fault... All the more reason to stick with my New Year's resolutions to stop being lazy.

2007-01-11T18:18:00.000-08:00

This is a view from inside my office plant. It is miniature palm of some sort. I'm not really sure what kind it is exactly; it came from Ikea. I really love having a plant in my cube because it makes it feel a little more like home. I'm still in he process of coming up with a name for him. I want it to be a really cool name. Hopefully it lives long enough for me to decide on a name; I'm so indecisive. Suggestions would be greatly appreciated...

2007-01-10T19:25:00.000-08:00

Today started my two week Special K kick-off to my diet. I'm going to do two weeks of Special K for breakfast and dinner. Then I'm going to switch to salad for dinner for three weeks. I plan on following a pattern of one week of Special K followed by three weeks of salad. Sounds yummy, doesn't it?

2007-01-09T15:26:00.000-08:00

For those of you who do not know what this is, meet a US Postal Service (USPS) bin. If, for the moment, we ignore the fact that these are, in fact, the property of USPS, they are one of the most sought after commodities at my place of employment, which is not USPS. Vicious fights have been known to break out over these bins, especially over the more pristine examples such as the one pictured here. Unlike the pristine bins, there are quite a few bins here at work that have seen much better days; imagine one of these bins after it has been used by a 400 pound gorilla as a stool to avoid sitting directly in the mud. Sadly, there is constant arguing over to whom each bin belongs, when, in fact, they don’t belong to anyone here. Bins have even been known to be stockpiled away in secretive hiding places for those possible lean days when USPS decides it wants its property returned. I would hate to see what would happen to our operation if USPS suddenly decided to raid our office and remove all the bins. There would be no where left to store the endless amounts of paper that haven’t been scanned or data entered or filed or even looked at…

2007-01-08T17:21:00.000-08:00

I thought about being able to play Final Fantasy XII tonight all day long. The time is finally here!! I love FF :-D

2007-01-07T19:20:00.000-08:00

Today we went to Longwood Gardens to see the holiday display before it was over for the season. It was my first time there and I really loved it. There weren't a whole lot of plants to see outside but there were a lot of lights. Thankfully, they also have extensive greenhouses and conservatories!! While I enjoyed the lights, I really enjoyed seeing all the plants inside. This place was great because it had lots of ferns and a whole room dedicated to orchids!! I took way to many pictures there: 166 stills and two 30 second movies!! :-) Most of the pictures didn't turn out well though because it was a very low light situation and I didn't have a tripod with me. I think that this was my favorite picture of the night, though. It is picture of a hybrid lily from Korea. I don't remember the name but it was beautiful. Orchids and lilies are my favorite kinds of flowers. I can't wait to go back in the springtime so that I can explore the grounds and the greenhouses in the daylight and maybe take a lot more pictures...

2007-01-07T18:58:00.000-08:00

I shot this photo out the window on our way to see Eragon today. Talk about global warming!!! It is January 6th and we are driving around with the windows rolled down!!! That's just wrong...

*This is my post from Saturday, January 6, 2007. This post is late because, by the time I was finished playing Final Fantasy XII last night, it was already today... hehe...

2007-01-05T16:50:00.000-08:00

We received these paper whites as a gift from a friend. They started out as just bulbs a few weeks ago but they bloomed extremely quickly!! They are really beautiful; their petals shimmer. They make the entire second floor of the house smelly flowery!!

2007-01-04T20:01:00.000-08:00

This is the key that gave me trouble today. It kept evading my finger. It's not a good thing when you're trying to do data entry...of Chinese applications!!!

2007-01-03T18:51:00.000-08:00

Andrew bought me these hoops&yoyo plushies for the holidays. I really love hoops&yoyo!!!! Now, these plushies watch me all day at work. Creepy, huh?! This afternoon hoops&yoyo watched me almost fall asleep during file review. Oops...

2007-01-02T19:24:00.000-08:00

This is just what I needed to start my first day back at work in the new year. I forgot to bring my keys with me. I showed up at the office at 7:30am and no one was there. I had to wait outside the office for about half an hour until someone finally showed up to let me in. If you look closely at the left window, you can see my reflection.

2007-01-02T19:18:00.000-08:00

Yes; I do realize that I am a day late starting this. This is my picture for January 1st.

Yes; I am aware that this is the same picture that appears for January 1st on my other photo blog project but what can I say; honey citron tea is the best.

This stuff is really great and it's my new favorite food stuffs!! This is honey citron tea from the local Korean market. This stuff comes in a jar and it looks a lot like orange marmalade. All you have to do is put some in a cup and mix it with water, either hot or cold. So far I have only tried it with hot water as a hot tea and it is great. I can't wait to try the honey black raspberry tea that I got today. It looks more like syrup than the honey citron tea does, maybe that means it has more sugar... :-)

2007-01-02T19:16:00.000-08:00

So, I have an overarching theme to my resolutions for this coming year, 2007: Stop being lazy!! To this end I am starting several projects. I really want to do things that will give me something to look back on and remember the year. To accomplish this, I have decided to start two separate photo blogs. This is one of those blogs. Each day, I will post This is the second half of my photo-a-day project for the new year. This blog will be dedicated to posting a photo every day that kind of summarizes my entire day or highlights something I found exciting or interesting during my day.