My new ski bag arrive a few weeks ago and it is AWESOME!!! Also, it's pink. It fits both boots, my helmet and all of my garb, all at the same time! I used it a few weeks ago on a trip to Salt Lake and it was spectacular. I've wanted one for a few years but never decided I was worth the time and energy it would take to find one I liked. Well, that old idea has been in the process of being excavated all year, and finally, the ski gear barrier has fallen.
I found a recommendation list here and only considered models that come in pink. You can use your own filter!
It's awesome!
Super comfy backpack straps
Handy-dandy pocket on the top next to a killer handle.
I just put the finishing touches on my scrapbook from MAET -Year 1! (MAET stands for Master's of Arts in Educational Technology and I completed in 3 summers in Galway, Ireland.)
Yes, I'm a scrapbooker. Not the it-loos-so-good-you-could-put-that-in-a-frame kind; I'm more like the cram-as-much-on-one-page-as-possible kind. I won't lie, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood had a big effect on me, although I started doing this a little before I read the book. My first scrapbook was of my honeymoon to Greece with my ex-husband. Ever since then I have more or less accounted for big events and trips with a scrapbook.
Here's the gist:
I collect all sorts of things during my trip. I mean everything: receipts, tickets, napkins, posters, brochures, stickers, figurines, rain ponchos. You just never know what might come in handy later.
When I get home Some number of months or years later, I pull out all the stuff I've collected. I go online and print out a selection of pictures from the trip. For example, for MAET Year 2, I printed out 383 pictures out of 700ish total taken.
I sort the pictures chronologically by event on a big table.
I sort all the collected debris on top of the pictures.
Assemble pages, event by event. This is the part where I really start to relive the trip. It's the best part (as long as it was a happy event!). Here is where I see what was actually important to me. Those things are included.
This is the second best part: I throw out all the stuff that doesn't go into the book. This feels fantastic! Before I started making scrapbooks I just collected boxes full of little mementoes and piles of pictures that no one ever saw except me when I cleaned out. Now, the good stuff stays and gets displayed, and the other stuff gets to go, and I complete the process with a visible piece of me to share and an indescribable sense of satisfaction.
Through the blowing snow I drove, all so I could stay at my friend's house for 6 hours while we binge watched the new 4 episodes of Gilmore Girls.
It. Was. Awesome. I'll admit, it started slow. But it got better with each episode. I'm totally re-hooked back in.
Photo from: www.eonline.com
So wonderful, in fact, I just found myself watching clips of the show. Like when Jess tells Rory...well, you can watch:
Or the best sequence ever, when Lorelai makes everyone stay and hash out their issues. In fact, I think I've posted about this before, I like it so much.
I think I'm going to have to watch the entire series again!
It is Christmas Day Night. I'm in Austin watching football in the living room with my dad. The scene is familiar. We both have our computers out. My mom is in bed. My brother is downstairs. The tree is lit, Christmas present debris is scattered about. Every now and then someone makes a trip to the kitchen. Earlier, my dad's nap overlapped mine by about a half hour. Despite some anxiety about spending a week here, I am so relaxed that I slept over 10 hours last night.
Clicking through pictures, I discovered these from October when my parents and I went to Dallas for my cousin's wedding. Between the wedding and the reception we stopped at the very first house my parents bought and where they lived when I was born.
When we stopped Dad decided to knock on the next-door-neighbors' door and see if they were still living there. Mom and I stayed in the car (I felt too self-conscious) but he was gone so long talking to the woman that opened the door, I eventually went up. The woman was the daughter-in-law of the couple that lived next door to my parents. She was delightful and my father was ecstatic (if you know my dad, you know this means he smiled a lot).
He introduced me and we finally let her go back inside. Before we left I really wanted to take a picture of us at their first house, but I was afraid to mention it. Strange and useless fear comes over me at times but I've learned to be objective. I'd regret it if I didn't. I said something and now I could see my father was kinda uncomfortable. But we got ourselves arranged, snapped a couple of pics and got on our way to the reception.
Daddy was so excited we stopped. He talked about it the rest of the way to the wedding. He mentioned regretting not knocking on the next door neighbor's a few years ago when they had driven by. It clearly made him very happy and it warmed my heart in a place that is rarely open for my father.
Joy demonstrating how NOT to hold the camera when facing the sun.
