February RECAP

As I am continuing Project 365 and taking a picture every day, I am particularly enjoying these recap's.  It's fun looking back over the month and seeing all that's happened in the past month.

Here's February's recap...

Photo 1 (top left):  USA curling team stinkin' it up...
Photo 2 (top right):  100 year celebration game for CAROLINA
Photo 3 (bottom left):  sweet baby Bella
Photo 4 (bottom right): fun picture taken with the Sunday School girls at Bojangle's

It's been a great February!

IRRITATING!

It takes a lot to ruffle my feathers, but here's something that does...

Let me set the scene.

In 6th grade Exploring Spanish today we were playing a game.  In the middle of the game, one of my more shy students is about to respond to a question when another, more loud-spoken student turns around and gives her the answer.

I look at the student who defiantly gave the answer and said something like "She's perfectly able to answer the question on her own, why did you give her the answer?"

To which this student who is oh-so-amazing at the moment (note the sarcasm), responds "I DIDN'T GIVE HER THE ANSWER!" as she rolls her eyes...

Did I not just SEE you and HEAR you give her the answer?!

OH...grrrrrrr...irritating.

This is how it makes me feel:

And this is how I want to feel:

Ok, thanks for letting me get that off my chest ;)

CAPTURED: Shapes

For You Capture this week, the theme was SHAPES.

For some reason I had a little difficulty with shapes...in finding them and capturing them, but I did come up with some :)

Here's what I came up with:

A basket made of circles

 

Some circle magnets I made, inspired by THIS site...

 

And finally, no more circles...but some squares that make up a window :)

There are my shapes! 

Pancake Pandamonium

So it is NO secret that I LOVE pancakes.  I mean LOVE them.  If I am ever offered an opportunity to eat some pancakes, I can't think of any reason to turn them down!  We're talking a serious love for pancakes here folks.

With that said, it's hardly unimaginable my reaction when I heard from my hubby that IHOP was giving away free pancakes today.  We jumped in the car headed to get some pancakes, but when we turned the corner (as I'm sure you could guess) there was an INCREDIBLY long line and many people waiting to fill their pancake-lovin' tummies, too.

Much to my heart's dismay, I had to turn down these delicious discs of buttery goodness...

For this...

 

That's right.  We ended up at Wendy's.  So anti-climatic! But don't worry, there will be many more pancakes consumed by this pancake-consumin' chick!

challenging thought...

At church yesterday, Jon Chasteen spoke and did a great job!

I was left with a lot, but one thought (or quote) was particularly challenging.

"There is a common worldly kind of Christianity in this day, which many have, and think they have enough---a cheap Christianity which offends nobody, and requires no sacrifice---which costs nothing, and is worth nothing."
-J.C. Ryle, Holiness, 204-

How about that for a challenging thought and for some self-reflection?

(and you know how I like a post with a picture...so here's a picture taken in the mirror...you know, for reflection and self reflecting :)

PILES!

I think I've blogged about this before, but laundry and I are not getting along lately!

I am not sure how two people can manage to pile up SO much laundry.  It's CRAZY! I'm scared to think about the laundry in our future (when our family grows).  Yikes!

This is what I will be doing today.  Folding, folding, and more folding.

And there's one other pile around here. This pile of books I am wanting to read (Jason also has his own pile...).

I have already started about three of these books.  Looks like it might take me the rest of the year to finish them all at this rate.  Whew!

So what PILES do you have around your house?

CAPTURED: Kisses

I Should be Folding Laundry's YOU CAPTURE for this week is...duh...duh...duh...KISSES!

So here are two precious Palmer kisses ;)

A sweet honeymoonin' kiss...
Can we go back!?

Valentine's dinner kiss at wonderful Guglhupf! (yum!)
And there you have it ;)  A quick glance at some Palmer kissin'.  And I'm done!

REJOICE!

Back awhile ago my mom sent Jason and I a sweet card.  I loved the inside (of course!), but I also thought the front of the card was just precious.

And...it just so happened to match the colors used in our bathroom.  So what do you do in that case?  You find a cute frame and frame the card, of course!

So here's the cutest card ever, framed for us to see daily.

"Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice, and let them say among the nations, "The Lord reigns!"  ~1 Chronicles 16:31~

"This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."  ~Psalm 118:24~

sweet jackson

A week ago today my sweet boy Jackson (and his adorable twin sister, Lydia) had a birthday!

We attended their birthday party (via invites from the Stewart clan), and though it's a week late, I wanted to post two of my most favorite pictures.

I have a mini, husband-approved crush on this 'lil guy ;) He's just precious!

Isn't he cute!?  Look at those expressions. 

Happy (week late) birthday, Jackson (and Lydia!) whom I am sure don't read this blog ;)

Me, a Chef?

If you were to go up to any of my college roommates and ask them, "Was Charity good at cooking in college?," they would probably look at you funny, laugh, and then they all would give you a resounding "NO!" But they also may tell you I was at least CREATIVE in cooking...haha.

With that said, it's not hard for me to make much of an improvement in the cooking world.  And as of late (at least the past year or so), I have really enjoyed trying new recipes and getting better at cooking! (Particularly now that I have a husband who likes to eat :)

And one of my recent adventures in cooking was Valentine's dinner!

I know you're wondering what I chose to make...

ROASTED CHICKEN! It's something I've been wanting to do for a while and I finally did it.  I roasted a chicken!  And it was good.  Steph, Erin, and Em, aren't you proud? :)

Ok...I have to make a note here.  Jas took the neck off the chicken and helped take out the innards.  EW!  But it was worth it!

Then I made an Italian Love Cake (from this recipe) and it was delish!  If you look at the recipe, though, I did not do the same topping.  I was wanting something lemony and sweet--so icing it was.

So there you have it.  My current adventures in cooking.

Here are a couple of websites I have liked in looking up recipes and in getting inspiration.
NOBLE PIG
BAKERELLA
HONEY AND JAM
The next one is Packy and Steph's blog (Steph has inspired me in cooking ever since college!  And she posts recipes every so often...so check out her recipes and knowledge!)
LIFE OUT LOUD

That's it. :)

Love & Guglhupf!

For Valentine's Day, Jas and I decided to try a new restaurant.  We're particularly fond of trying new restaurants (every so often and usually for special occasions), and this one was a HIT!  

And it has an awesome name.  Guglhupf!  How fun is that?

It's not only a bakery, but also a restaurant.  With AMAZING food.  AMAZING! The menu is German-inspired, but has an altogether European flare.

The atmosphere is great--Chinese lanterns everywhere, stucco walls, candles...awesome!

Jason had schnitzel and I had a homemade pasta.  Both were excellent.  We finished dinner with "dessert."  For me, a chai latte, aka, Christmas-in-a-cup.  And for Jas, the only negative part of the meal, his dragonfly tea, aka, sweaty-sock-tea.  

And during the summer, they have a large patio with lots of outdoor tables.  We will definitely be checking that out!

We snapped one quick, chilly picture outside before we left.

GUGLHUPF.  Go there.  Sometime. For sure.

Happy Valentine's Day!

¡Feliz Día de San Valentín!

(and below, a completely non-Guglhupf photo, but very Valentine's :) 

 

The UNAPalmer?

Last week we ran into a rodent problem...big rats with bushy tails. I believe that people call them squirrels. They have an uncanny knack of going into our neighbors' trash and bringing it into our yard. There is only one thing that can stop their yard wrecking havoc...

THE UNAPALMER!!

He is always seen with a Daisy air rifle that he has had since he was 7.

For all of you animal enthusiasts out there, there were no squirrels hurt when this picture was taken...

CAPTURED: Work

Today over at I Should Be Folding Laundry, there's another YOU CAPTURE going on...and today's theme is: WORK.

I am sure this can be taken so many different ways, but when I think of work...I think of one place.  Carrington Middle School.  So I got to work taking photos of my work place.  That good 'ole Spanish classroom, where middle-schoolers come and go all day...oh the joy ;)

We call this the bulletin board of "Palabras y Frases Importantes" or "Important Words and Phrases."

A row of materials used on a daily basis--whoo!

My attempt at incorporating creativity into class...Thank you, Crayola!

And there you have it, my interpretation of WORK.  Middle school is such a..."fun"...age ;)

Feeling Random...

Just a few random thoughts for you today :)

*I am ready for spring! (without allergies, though)
*I love Target's $1 section
*I wore a sombrero in class all day today (Hats for Haiti = way cool fund raiser for students to raise money for Haiti)
*Have you tried Propel's Kiwi-Strawberry water?  It's amazing!
*I think my husband comes up with some hilarious songs about silly things
*Grading papers=not fun, not fun, and more not fun, BUT writing with Sharpie pens makes it that much more bareable :)
*I have an itching to do something creative (maybe paint, draw something, a craft?  Any ideas?!)
*NCIS comes on tonight...woot woot!
*Isn't it great fun to get an unexpected, handwritten letter in the mail?  It just makes your day...
*I am digging wearing Smart Wool socks...they have great cushioning :)
*It's time to go take my photo for the day...hm...what will it be today?

And now a random picture (because I think these boots are precious...they're Attabel's! Anyone want to buy me a pair? ;)

Happy Tuesday!

Bowlin' and the The 'Bowl

Sunday was a day full of bowlin' for us Palmers. 

After church, we took one of the Youth Sunday School classes out for a trip to the bowling alley (they won a challenge).

It was fun, but I can say I have NOT been bowling in a long time...since the night before our wedding (see the picture below for a visual explanation)!

And of course, I am still trying to figure out the manual setting on my camera (I know, I know...slowwwww).  But here are some attempts.

And let's talk about how completely horrible I am at bowling.  Please just call me BOWLING CHAMP.  Take note that by the 4th frame I had not scored more than 3 points.  I rock! ha!

Then after an afternoon of bowling, we headed to the Holloway's to watch some Super Bowl action (I called it...go Saints! ;)

And what Super Bowl party is complete without lots of food...Take a look at that spread!

And a final, candid shot taken by Morg or Kels

And that was our Sunday!

What's going on...

Today has been one of those relaxed, yet get things done, kind of day.  Ya know what I mean?  Like a take-your-time-doing-chores kind of day :)

So with that, there's been lots of this...

And there's been one, lazy, one of these...

And that's been our Saturday! (so far) :)

Afternoon with Atta

On Thursday my great friend Attabel came to town to hang out with me!  I was so excited to get to spend some time with this girl--since the last time I had seen her was at our wedding!!

We hung out, drank some hot tea, went to dinner at my favorite restaurant--Elmo's, and then went to Starbucks for coffee.  Lots of chatting and catching up took place (and it was wonderfully fun, as always! :)

Did I mention Atta is great at all things artsy and creative?  Thus, she enlightened me on using my camera (she has this big, fancy, professional version of my camera and so she has quite the knowledge I don't).

We were experimenting with a new lens she had just bought for her camera, by putting it on my camera...so some of these photos may be a little blurry (I'm an amateur, remember? :)  But, of course, we had fun taking them!

These took place outside in the driveway--we were playing with flash, also.

And I liked how these looked tinted like this--quite '60's-esque, huh?

Thanks for coming to visit, Atta!  You rock :)

Photography and Light...

I occasionally search the web (ok, a lot!) for creative ideas/inspiration.  It's kind of a creative outlet and feeds my creativity.  There are so many creative ideas and creative people in this big world.

With that said, I stumbled upon these two images that I adore.  Here comes the art minor in me...

These are both still lives.  But look at the light!  And the touches of red.  And the paint chipping on the walls.  The vintage-y feel of these photos.  I just wish I could take photos like these!  

I guess that's why they call it inspiration, huh? :)

Oh, and I found these images here. 

84 or 48?

Last night we got together with the Palmer clan to celebrate Grandma R's birthday.

After a very Italian meal (she's Italian, after all!) of lasagna, noodles, salad, and bread, she opened her gifts.

Here she is with the LOOFAH we gave her :)

Then we had pound cake--but she couldn't decide if the candles on her cake were supposed to be 84...or 48? She kept insisting on 48 ;)

Happy (now, belated) 84th Birthday, Grandma R!  We love you!