Ribbon Beaded Jewelry

I've seen these several places and tried to make them on my own once and failed miserably. So I was really excited to find this simple tutorial on Little Birdie Secrets on how to make them. I'm thinking a necklace! Maybe navy blue with some polka dots?

Beautiful Bubbles

I love blowing bubbles!

originally uploaded by SaylaMarz on Flickr.

Adventura En Espanol

I'm going to take Spanish this fall for the first time! This is going to be quite the adventure, but I'm glad to be taking it with my friend and co-worker Jill and having a weekly Spanish-only time with Bill where no English is allowed. Jill has quite appropriately dubbed this time "Entrevista."

In recognition of this new journey toward bilingual-ness (hopefully, tri if I can just get my French vocab up to speed), I have put a new application on this blog that will give us all a new Spanish word each day.

So learn along with me!

U-Pick Season!

Time to get out there and pick your own fresh fruits and veggies! We went out and picked some fresh blueberries yesterday, and Elliot had a blast, especially when he found a car battery in the middle of the field. SERIOUSLY?! Who does that?! After we moved down a few rows from that hazard, he had fun picking blueberries and definitely decided that the blue ones were better for eating than the green ones!

I'll be getting some more herbs today. The pesto that I posted the recipe for was fantastic! I mixed it with a little Laughing Cow cheese, spread it on some bread, and topped the sandwich off with some cucumbers. SO good!

We've missed the strawberry picking season. But right now, you can do blueberries, green beans, herbs, etc. And we still have raspberries and lots of veggies still to come!

I'm picking up some Kohlrabi from my CSA today. First time to even HEAR of that, but I'm excited to see what we can do with it.

For the Tea Lover

To my fellow tea lovers. I have a couple of resources for you to try. First, have you ever tried making your tea in a French Press? If not, join me on this adventure. A new co-worker told me about how she makes hers and I think it's a fantastic way to brew your loose-leaf tea without having to worry about getting the right/best/most economical/most environmentally friendly tea bags.

Also, I have two websites for you to try. If you're a creative, artsy type, try out Teavana. You'll learn a lot about different types of teas, and you can even mix up your own. If you're more of an organic, earthy type try out Mountain Rose Herbs. They have lots of different loose leaf teas with information on the health benefits of each. I think you might be able to put together a little sampler pack there as well.

Our Fun Boating Weekend!

Here are a few fun pics from our boating weekend with Joe.

Seriously Now?!

We went boating on Winona Lake this weekend....SO FUN! We went tubing as well. I went tubing on a couple runs by myself and then on a couple runs with Emily. I had never gone with two people before and that was a blast too. Here's the thing, I woke up this morning, after being thrown around the lake yesterday like skipping stone, pulled myself out of bed after a pretty restful night (Elliot slept for over 11.5 hours!), and then came the problem. You see, I thought that I could still walk normally, like I could about seven hours earlier when I lumbered into bed. I also thought that I would be able to take a shower and raise my hands enough above my head to wash my hair without my body telling me that was a bad idea. I was REALLY sore.

Seriously now?! I'm 25, not in bad shape. Plus, I carry a loveable 20+ pound weight with me just about everywhere. What is the deal?!

So, I decided my body and I were going to have a discussion! This was ridiculous! I felt like an old, OLD woman. I'm not saying I felt like woman past middle-age with some gray hair and carpel tunnel. I'm saying I felt like I had the range of motion of shuffling, walker-toting woman. C'mon Body! What's going on? Seriously now?!

So here's how the discussion went (mind you, I was pretty sure from the get go that I was going to win):

Me: Ugh! What in the world?! C'mon!

Body: (remains silent, except for the slight cracking in my shoulder)

Me: Okay, we're going to talk. I am 25 years old and should not be having problems like this. I feel really old!

Body: Really?

Me: Yes! And in case you didn't notice, I'm not old. I'm young.

Body: Hmm...so just let me tell you what I'm hearing. You think that I should be able to go through 25 years of germs, illnesses, accidents, injuries, and surgeries. Then I have a baby, you don't exercise me regularly, and you give me an average of 6 hours of sleep a night. THEN! You fling me around a lake on a tube at the end of a rope and beat me against the water. You don't want to feel any of that right?

Me: (sheepishly) I'm sorry Body.

Body: C'mon! Seriously now?!

Me: (remains silent, except for the slight cracking in my ankle)