Pinehurst

In February, Michal had a work conference in Pinehurst.  So they offered to let me go and tag along with Michal. (I only found out later I was charged for it.  Well, technically, just my meals, but they were dang expensive). 

 

Ahem.

Anyway... Pinehurst is also a big deal in North Carolina.  It's where the big golf tournaments - the US Golf Open - and many other championships occur.  It's a ritzy place, and you see women dressed up wearing sweaters draped over their shoulders, like rich fancy folk.  Everyone who comes here has money, and lots of it, and they aren't afraid to flaunt it.  To play a "course" on the golf field - it's like $600.  And the room we stayed in was around $550 a night.  I personally didn't think it was anything to brag about, but anyone who's anyone goes here and feels pretty important.

Lily and I on the other hand, decided to change the stereotype of the place.  We walked around acting like we OWNED this joint and made everyone flaunt over Lily, instead of themselves. And... if they didn't pay her any attention, she would stop trying to learn how to walk and try to get their attention.

While Michal was busy doing his work thing, Lily and I went exploring the grounds.  Here's what we found...

Archives & a non-denominational Church

A pretty fancy bank and other significant monuments.

And in all it's glory - I give you... Pinehurst!

It wasn't a terribly exciting trip or adventure, but we 'seized the day' and made the most of our time there.  Here are some other treasures that we came across during our stay.

An awesome quote.  Maybe one I need to heed.

An awesome imprint burned onto an overly large cracker we had as an appetizer.

And... an awesome tornado warning.  Which we mostly ignored.  (Where were we supposed to 'hide out'?)

Next time Michal goes for his work conference to Pinehurst, I'll opt to staying home and going to the zoo with Lily instead.  It was great, but I'm glad that I crossed that item off my bucket list so that I don't have people thinking I'm a ritzy, fancy folk.

Snowmaggedon

January & February 2014

It's kind of a big deal when it snows in North Carolina.

I thought it would be the ideal time to go shopping, since no one was on the streets, and being from Utah, I know how to drive in the snow.  The only problem... the store was cleared out of all the essentials.  Bread. Milk. Cheese. Eggs. Gone! Or nearly gone.  With the only items left on the bread aisle being hot dog buns, you'd think that we were in a pandemic movie.  People really do take the snow seriously.

And with it snowing, (see how much snow is atop the cars), no one owns a snow-shovel.  So, no snow gets shoveled.  And no one goes outside, except to build snowmen.

Michal & I "braved" the snow and went for a walk.  We were excited to sport our Polish cold weather gear.  Me in my coat, Michal in his hat, and Lily in her baby sleeping blanket.  No doubt about it, we were warm.

In addition to snow, Freezing Rain here is a more common occurrence, and one that makes me terribly nervous.  Everything instantly becomes coated in a layer of ice. Car doors become impossible to open, sidewalks slippery, but it looks like a beautiful ice castle dreamland.

Apparently this was one of the worst winters that Winston Salem has seen in quite some time.  Hopefully this next winter will be more mild and pleasant.

Lily's Photography Skills

I am six months behind in blogging.  If I ever get caught up, I'll be able to explain all that's been going on.

While I catch up on events in our life... Here is Lily exploring her third or fourth career path.  (She's already tried out Piano, Soccer, and caring for her Doll-Doll).

Enjoy her photography skills.  I think she takes better pictures than I sometimes do!

SELFIES!!!

Other Artistic Capabilities:

Still Life...

Body Art

And there you go ladies and gentleman.  She is available for hire, but I apologize, not in Utah.  You'll have to contact a different Utah Photographer.  Lily specializes in capturing unique angles, artistic viewpoints, and real action drama.  She is also currently selling each of her pieces.  If you are interested in purchasing any of them, please comment below!

Until next time...

Three Decades

So, tomorrow I turn 30 years old.

This is supposed to be a life-changing event, and to commemorate the occasion I wanted to make a list.  I missed the boat with the whole "30 things to do before you're 30" list.  But as I was reading other's blogs and looking up ideas - it occurred to me that I've already accomplished a lot before I turned 30...

 I have...

- Been to 29 Countries

 - Fallen in Love and Gotten Married

 - Had a Baby

- Lived in a Different Country

- Lost a lot of weight, gained it back, and lost it again

- Read almost 300 books since graduating from College

- Gotten myself completely out of debt

- and many more... but these I named appear to be some of the most popular items list makers out there have on their 30-Year-Old-Bucket-List.

So instead, I was thinking.  Why not create a list of 30 things to do WHILE I am 30! It doesn't have to be creative, or elaborate.  I never really make "New Years Resolutions" because I feel that if you want something bad enough - you will work on it, toward it, for it. Why wait until the new year to accomplish something with your life?  So I decided that I want my "30 List" to be something to get me going, motivate me, and inspire me to become a better person this year.

Without Further Ado...

I present to you...

My List...

1. Declutter. The only goal I made for 2014 was to get rid of 2014 things.

2. Buy a house, create a home.

3. Lose 10 pounds.

4. Defy Gravity.

5. Celebrate something, somewhere else.

6. Visit my 30th Country.

7. Read 30 books.

8. Win Something.

9. Run a Race.

10. Read 3 Classics.

11. Let People call me crazy when they hear my goals and be totally okay with it. (They're just jealous anyways, right?)

12. Do Yoga everyday for 30 days.

13. Buy Magnets. (More to come on this later).

14. Start the tradition of sending Lily a postcard from every place we visit.

15. Write twice a month in my journal.

16. Explore my own city.

17. Earnestly try to completely read the whole Bible.

18.  Make a 40 things to do before 40 list.

19. Make Shutterfly & Blurb Books, and compile Movies of Lily of her first year.

20. Pretend to be someone entirely different for one night only.

21.  Take a trip ALONE with Michal.

22. Memorize something.

23. Take a step towards my dream.

24.  Do a free trial at every gym in my city.

25. Visit Pennsylvania.

26. Invest in Something.

27.  Watch 30 of AFI's top 100 movies.

28.  Find and Join a Bookclub.

29.  Buy a second car.

30.  Finish Lily's Quiet Book.

Some of these will seriously take some hard work and dedication to finish.  Others require a little bit of luck.  Some may come very naturally. But I've thought long and hard over the last week, and this time next year I'd like to look back and say, "Yes.  I did it!" And be happy and feel accomplished. This is my olympic story.

Birthday Celebrations

So, we didn't have the "ideal" backdrop for taking pictures, so I thought I'd edit the pictures to create my own backdrop.  (Note: I do not know how to edit pictures in Photoshop.) Ninety minutes later, this was the best that I could come up with, so needless to say - I'll put my sad effort at an edited picture up, so that you photographers (and editers) out there feel better about your amazing talents compared to mine.

 But, with this being the very first time we introduced sweets to Lily, I had to make sure I took a million photos of the occasion, and here are my favorites from below.

At first, she didn't know if she liked the chocolate, and the frosting was so hard she was so confused at whether she should eat this strange thing, but once she got into "softer" frosting, she made sure to show us that she loved it by getting it all over her face.  

Eventually she got bored of the cupcake, so we took her out of her high-chair and took some classic birthday family photos.

And this is my favorite, favorite photo of us together.

Thanks to all those who came to celebrate with us!

And Happy Birthday Lily!