Utah

Happy New Year!!!

So much going on...I was actually trying to upload my video to edit and for whatever reason, I can't see it on my computer but I can see it on my camera viewer. I'll blame it on my Mac newbie status for now. I'll try uploading it onto a PC and go from there.

Meanwhile, you can make do with some photos.

I took the kids to Brian Head, Utah to to meet up with some friends that have a cabin up there. The weather was great which made the drive nice and uncomplicated.  Our friends' cabin is up a steep hill which is luckily plowed in for the last 5 years otherwise we'd have to park at the bottom and snowmobile all our stuff & us up to the cabin. 

The cabin is comfortable yet rustic. There are solar panels which power a bank of golf cart batteries to provide our necessary electricity in addition to a generator for emergencies.  More on that later. There are also gas lamps for night time use. No wifi. Our heat came from a wood stove. A 7 gallon water heater so showers were speedy.

It was a big adjustment for all of us but overall, it was a good experience. Once our phones/devices died, we had to entertain ourselves with books and board games!! Gasp!
It was a nice change of pace and I got a lot of knitting done. 

 One day the kids went tubing and another day was spent skiing. We put the kids to work helping stock the wood pile, shovel the deck and install new golf cart batteries. The batteries had to be replaced since the previous ones were probably over 15 years old and having issues holding  a charge. Plus I think all our electronics really made it more apparent. The kids were good sports, playing Yahtzee and building Legos. 

We had plenty of room for all of us and pretty much all the comforts of home. I'll need to get going on the video so enjoy this for now...

Enchanted Forest

We are a few days into the kids winter break so I'm trying to get things done while keeping the kids somewhat entertained. Yesterday we went to visit my cousin Hannah and meet her new baby W! It was fun! Sure, we had some chaotic moments where the babies don't cooperate but it was all great! I was just happy to see them and catch up on stuff.

The highlight of the day was our visit to the Enchanted Forest of Lights at Descanso Gardens. I believe this is the first year but it really is a super experience for everyone. My video will show the cool things we saw and experienced.

Hope you enjoyed my video and got a glimpse of what our enchanted evening was like.

more random things

Think I'll take a jaunt to the post office today.

These awesome shoes are a gift to myself! I saw them and when they went on sale during Black Friday, I grabbed them! 

I wear them in the house for now to stretch them out a bit and to get used to wearing them. I also need to get stronger laces. The ribbon laces are very pretty but not practical for actual laces...

A photo posted by Debbie T (@moodybq) on Dec 8, 2016 at 12:43pm PST

Hexipuffs and beanie ornament. Day 10's yarn. #opaladventcalendar2016

A photo posted by Debbie T (@moodybq) on Dec 12, 2016 at 2:21pm PST

I am still working my way through the Opal sock yarn Advent Calendar. I love seeing each day will produce another little mini skein of sock yarn. I'm trying to keep up with knitting a couple of hexipuffs from each one and it's a challenge but I'm getting more hexipuffs this way for my seat cushions. 

Also, I'm knitting ornaments  from them like little hats, and hopefully socks and sweaters. My plan is to have an ornament for my family members. I better get going!

tis the season

Hope you all are having a great Christmas season and remembering to share the gift of love and compassion.

I've been busy working my side biz while doing all my normal activities and naturally some are getting cut out...well, that just can't happen. I usually knit or paint a little gift for family members so I need to get going. My wrists are not able to handle all the long hours of knitting I used to do but I will try to balance it all.

A photo posted by Debbie T (@moodybq) on Dec 7, 2016 at 9:00am PST

Shadow has been in-your-face and pet me type of mood so it's sort of funny. When we first got him, he was super skittish and aloof but now almost 2 years later he is the most aggressive about getting his head pets. Shadow will head butt, put his paw on your face or hand in order for you to move that unused hand and pet him! Then when you finally bend to his will, he will make these soft grunts and it racks me up.

Okay, back to knitting... I knit a couple of small things that I think my family will like.

Today: one #hexipuff and one #tinywindowcat from #opaladventcalendar2016

A photo posted by Debbie T (@moodybq) on Dec 6, 2016 at 8:39pm PST

This little cat is adorable. I think I used a smaller weight yarn but pretty much everything is adaptable. 

The best one is my zero calorie donut. Really just the cutest thing. This one made my wrists ache but I plowed through because I wanted it done. Off course I want to knit more in more color combos so I'll have to try. 

Zero calorie donut. #knit #beads #ravelry

A photo posted by Debbie T (@moodybq) on Dec 7, 2016 at 11:26am PST

something different

For some reason, I find this commercial extremely funny.

Rainy Thanksgiving

I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We had a nice, low-key time with just our family of four and my mom. Hector ordered a smoked turkey from our favorite smoke meat shop in Bishop and it was super delicious! I really liked that I could just heat it in the oven since it was fully cooked. Usually Hector and I have to tie and wrestle the turkey and then skewer it for our rotisserie. It comes out amazing and fast but it' just more effort overall.

The meal was lovely and it was nice to just share a nice meal. My mom is getting older and family is so important to us. My mom's friend recently passed away 2 weeks ago so we need to cherish our moments.

Black Friday was another low key day for me although the kids ventured out and walked to Target and Toys r Us. They are more adventurous than me, obviously. I went out Wednesday shopping and spent my anniversary gift card at Nordstrom. I didn't have any ideas except for some makeup eye brushes. 

Side note: I bought 3 brushes. A blender brush, an eye shadow brush and smaller taper brush. Lately, I've been doing my eye makeup differently to work with my hooded eyes so I thought some new brushes would be nice. I used them Wednesday night and boy, I noticed a huge difference in the ease of application. Brushes have come a long way! 

So back to shopping....I was wandering around Nordstrom and found the sale table at the purse section. Needless to say, my shopping was done after that. 2 purses and some more bucks past my gift card amount but it was done. Another side note: I ended going back Sunday because the Black Friday deal gave me another 20% off one of my purses. Yay!

Hector and I went dancing a couple times which was fun! Add a couple hockey games sprinkled in there and some good rain in SoCal made for a wonderful weekend!!

Smile

LEGO DEPECHE MODE ENJOY THE SILENCE from Lukas Tuzar on Vimeo.

It's Friday and I hope everyone had a great week! Time to relax (a little) and enjoy! 

My week was super busy yet I'm learning to appreciate the ups and downs a little more. I'm grateful to my wonderful husband...did I forget to mention that we had our 20th wedding anniversary on the 9th? 

Thanksgiving is coming up fast...I just realized this when people begin asking what our plans are? What? It's next week?!? Luckily Hector ordered the turkey which arrived yesterday. 

I'll leave you with a joke...

Why did the cranberry sauce turn red??



It saw the turkey dressing!!!!!!


Boom! :)

Kick in the Pants

Last week I met several people in a room of hundreds that are encouraging and supportive. I joined these people to partner with the MDs that created ProActiv and now have their own premium skincare line.

I'm taking charge of my destiny to love my skin and share it with everyone! I tried the Reverse regimen and it works!!  I will be posting before/after photos eventually but after 3 months, I've noticed better skin texture, smaller pores and lightening of my dark/age spots. 

My Rodan and Fields website. Please take the time to use the Solutions Tool and be sure to click next until the end to email your results. It's easy!

It's not too late to get great skin and with a 60 day money back guarantee, you can't lose! 

Ant

Another photo from my archives...




Love this....need to work on focus although I do love the lines of the flower. 
From 2009. This was taken on my Rebel  XT which I have now loaned to Tyler for his high school photography class. He hasn't used it yet but I look forward to his learning process.

water drops

It seems that my hobbies have increased in the last several years and my photography has suffered. I also realize I need to tag my photos so I can find them easier....

Anyway, here is  an oldie from 2011.  I really do love photography although the DSLR is quite heavy for my wrist. I'll need to wear a brace and see if that helps....

Vegas: Oct 7, 2016

More Vegas!! Not the typical gambling and debauchery type of day. We had to do some serious work for the morning in cleaning out Carlos' place. It was a very long day...up til 3 am the night before and up again at 9 am.

I vlogged our activities and sped it up to make it not so tedious. I tried inserting music at the right times. For whatever reason, the video software is limited in choices so sometimes I use the youtube audio library but I can't seem to put in more than one track into my video. So now I notice that the fountain scene has no music. Ugh. So sorry.

Well, please enjoy the video and I will keep working on it....




I will be venturing on a personal adventure so stay tuned for that. i hope to earn some extra $ and we shall see how it goes. 

San Diego weekend; part 2

We managed to drive down toward the waterfront area of San Diego and look around a bit. I always have fond memories of SD and it is a great place to visit. Sure you have the obvious places like Sea World and the San Diego Zoo but there are many other things to enjoy....

Vlogging

My version of vlogging is just highlighting or showing what I want. Basically it's just another form of expression for me. Definitely nothing groundbreaking but it's fun for me. Just like photos are memories, so are videos. 

September

I feel like I am failing my goals, once again but I will move forward...

Honestly, I made a video last week and was in the process of uploading it to YouTube and the program unexpectedly quit on me. Hair-pulling moment over lost editing!!! So today I pulled myself back into the sauna-esque office room to redo this video. 

Oh and somehow between the 2 video editing sessions, I caught a cold from Hector. So that wasn't fun. And there was a heatwave of 100* that has slowly decreased to about 85* today which is much better but our house has retained all of the week's heat and kept it retained to act like a sauna in the office.

The good news is that I have a new video to show you and since I'm on a roll, I am loading up part 2 of my San Diego weekend to edit. We'll see if there is anything good or I'll just scrap it and move on.




Have a great weekend and keep cool people!!

Sadness

On Tuesday, we received the sad news that Carlos, H's brother passed away. There are lots of emotions going through our hearts and minds but we remember Carlos as being kind and stubborn. Sure, being stubborn is not usually seen as a positive trait because he could really be frustrating but that's how I remember him but that frustration is now looked on as an endearment because that's who Carlos was. I didn't always agree with him but he was always nice to me and caring.

Carlos spent the last part of his life in Vegas and his visits became more infrequent in the past few years but I remember him wanting to go to the ocean one time. we went to the tide pools and he had a great time scrambling around the rocks with my kids. 

So on Wednesday, the kids and I went to the Redondo Beach pier to find some peace and comfort. I recorded a video and I will always have it to remind me of Carlos and his spirit. 

RIP Carlos. We will miss you yet you are in our hearts. 

OC Fair date

The kids and I go to the OC Fair every summer and always have a great time. It's the perfect size for us to see all the rides, exhibits and FOOD!!

Hector joined in on the fun twice this year and we pigged out. It's even better if we have more friends to share the huge portions. We tried to arrange an outing with friends but something came up so it didn't work out. 

The kids take off to explore which is nice so they don't get totally bored while we go looking at the Parade of Products. I bought my supply of pink jewelry cleaner and had my ring and Hector's ring cleaned and polished.

I caught pokemon at the fair too.I can't wait till next year's fair!

Stockton visit

Wow, this NorCal trip flew by and to end it we stopped in Stockton to visit my alma mater University of the Pacific where I spent 5 of my college years earning my pharmacy degree. It was a great experience where I made lots of wonderful friends and memories. 

Of course, it's changed a little and  I had fun showing the kids around campus. I am still learning editing and working on my steady camera work. Always a work in progress!




Stockton has grown a lot since I was here last which is great although the crime rate is still pretty bad in some areas. We had lunch a some burger joint and cooled down with a some Sonic later that afternoon. 

Summer is winding down with a lot of schools already beginning but our school district starts after Labor Day so that can be a good thing.

NorCal trip: Day 3 and 4

Day 3 was a scheduled college tour of Cal Berkeley. I didn't record any video since it was guided but I  did a shot of the kids at the gate which was used by Pixar for Monsters university. It was a very interesting tour and our student guide had a lot of funny and interesting facts and stories. 

Day 4: we are in Sacramento and not much planned so off we went to see Cal State Chico. We did our own self-guided tour and it's very pretty. 

Day 2 of NorCal trip

After a day of driving up the state, a day in SF exploring we were ready to chill and relax. Linda suggested mini-golf so off we went. Only 2 courses to choose from but there was a big variety of challenges and we all had fun.

I remember loving mini-golf as a kid. 

Day 7: Love your spouse challenge

Travelling!! Hector has opened the world to my eyes and therefore our kids reap the benefits also!
I had not traveled practically at all until I met Hector. I heard that you can tell a person's real personality when you travel with them. Heck, I learned a lot about myself too.

In the end, keep an open mind and wear comfortable shoes! Now, our family loves traveling and we always have great memories. Japan is a special favorite because this is our very international trip as a family with 2 young boys and the Japanese people couldn't have nicer to us.

So the 2nd time to Japan was again very special. Both kids had great times experiencing the different food and shops.There were no meltdowns, no arguments and no injuries! It was nice to be able to enjoy some other sights this time that we couldn't do before and we were able to explore more of Japan this time around.

We share this loving bond and I look forward to spending the rest of my life with Hector.

Note: I may extend this challenge to a monthly basis since I feel I have more to share and learn.