I Failed

So it looks like I failed on my 365 Project this year. It's been over a week since I took any pictures and, to be honest, I don't really care that much. I guess I just lost interest. I think it would be easier if I had a child to take pictures of (although that's not a good reason to have a baby). Maybe if we have kids someday I'll give it another try.


That being said, I did take a few pictures a few weeks ago during a walk that I wanted to share:

Snow, Penguins and Chimpanzees

I really want it to snow again. It doesn't look like it's going to anytime soon, but it's so much fun when it snows around here. Everything shuts down. Everyone's happy. Plus it's so pretty! It snowed a couple of weeks ago for just a few hours (it melted by morning). I was able to take these pictures:

I think one of the reasons I like the snow so much is that everyone else gets excited about it, too. As much as I love the rain, I'm usually the only one excited about it. Like this penguin:




But with snow, I'm not the only one getting outside and enjoying the beautiful weather :)

In other news, I recently crossed over to the dark side. We bought a MacBook Pro. I have a tendency to kill computers. Every 2-3 years the computer I use needs to be replaced for various reasons. I have no idea why I kill them and what I do that makes them die, but they do. About a year ago I started using Matt's desktop and it's been making odd sounds recently, getting the blue screen of death, etc. So we decided to see if a Mac would last any longer. Obviously it's taken a little bit of time to get used to, but I really like it. I can see how someone that likes the flexibility of a PC might not like it, but since my main functions of a computer include checking email, Facebook and blogging (well, and writing pitches, etc for work), all that flexibility isn't completely necessary. At this point there isn't anything I've wanted to do that I haven't been able to do...so that's good, right?

Now that we got a new computer it seemed like a good time to upload our CDs to our iPod, so I've had fun going through CDs over the past couple of weeks. I'd completely forgotten I had some of these songs, and I'd never really taken the time to go through Matt's music. I have a couple of new favorites, like:


Barenaked Ladies - Another Postcard
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Postcards and chimps! Who wouldn't like that song? Anyway...here are a couple more artsy pictures I've taken recently that I felt like sharing:

Pictures!

This one isn't mine, but I love this picture by huffmans. It's a combination of two of my favorite things - rain and Disneyland.

I've really been loving polar bears a lot recently, too. Here are a couple of adorable photos I saw online that I just needed to share (one by Per Breiehagen and one by kayarebee).


And here are a few of my favorite photos I've taken recently:

Random side note: Apparently I published 27 posts in 2009 and 26 in 2010. Interesting, especially as I started this blog over halfway through 2009. Apparently I tapered off last year. My goal is to post a little bit more regularly, although blogging also isn't a major priority so when I get busy it falls away. Anyway...we'll see how this year goes.

Why I Love the Movie Tombstone

Okay, Tombstone is an enjoyable movie. A fun story, good characters, great acting (disclaimer: it is violent)... That’s not why I love it, though. Two years ago my husband and I departed for our honeymoon and, upon arrival, found out the place we were staying had a TV/DVD player! Sadly we didn’t know this before we left, so we didn’t bring any movies with us, and the only movie there was Tombstone. We must have watched it something like 5 times over the next several days. Needless to say, Tombstone is good memories now. I’m actually really excited to watch it tonight as we celebrate our 2nd anniversary!


On that note, I can’t believe we’ve already been married for 2 years! It’s strange because being married and living together is normal life now, but at the same time, it seems like just yesterday we were dating, planning a wedding, etc.


We’re also coming up on a year in our current city (well, in another month or so). As we only lived in California for about 8 months after the wedding, and then were in Bremerton for just 6 months, this is the longest we’ve stayed in one place since we got married, too. Fortunately the plan is to stay here for a while. As willing as I am to move when it’s necessary, it really is a hassle...


Anyway, a couple of additional recent highlights include:


Pulling out the Christmas music. I personally think some Christmas music could be listened to year-round. Jesus probably wasn’t born in December anyway, and why not celebrate his birth all year? Regardless, the day after Halloween I created a Pandora station to start listening to Christmas tunes and have been enjoying it immensely. 


Rewatching Harry Potter. To prepare for the premiere of The Deathly Hallows, Part 1 we’ve been rewatching the past movies. We’re on track to have all of them rewatched by Wednesday night so we can go to the midnight premiere on Thursday. I’m so excited!


Getting way for a couple of days at a friend’s beach house. Here are a few of my favorite photos from the trip:

 

On that note, my break is over and I need to get back to work!

Harry Potter and Baseball to Halloween and Pictures

You know what I'm excited for? Harry Potter! Only 2 weeks until the Deathly Hallows Part 1 comes out. This is the first time I'll see the movie after knowing the story - I read it for the first time last year after seeing the Half-Blood Prince. 

Harry Potter definitely grew on me...I read the first book when it came out and actually didn't like it. Of course I ended up seeing the movie because it was put on at a sleep-over or something, so when my friends wanted to see the second one when it came out I was willing to see it. I started liking the movies more and more as they came out, and after the Half-Blood Prince came out last year I couldn't wait to see what happens and ended up reading the entire series. Twice.


Speaking of movies, I got to see the Sound of Music on the big screen last week! We went to the sing along with a few friends, and I had a blast. Not only did I get to see one of my all-time favorite movies on a GIANT screen, but I also got to sing along to all the songs! It was kind of funny when the nuns were singing in Latin towards the beginning, the words were up on the screen, but the theater was silent. Until they sang, "Amen" that is - then everyone joined in!


Other big news lately: THE GIANTS WON THE WORLD SERIES!!! 

My Build-A-Bear & Matt's Flying Monkey celebrating

I was sooooo excited. Once they made it into the playoffs, my life became overrun with baseball. It probably would have been before that had the games been on TV up here. That's what happens when your team is two states south...I do think it's kind of funny that I've lived in Washington both times they made it to the playoffs - at least since I've been old enough to understand what's going on. Don't worry, San Francisco - I'm planning on staying up here for a while. 

Anyway, it was really nice to have a husband that understands the love you have for your team. Granted he's not a Giants fan (sadly he's not perfect), but he was really supportive of me taking over the TV for 3 hours every night and even skipping out on a few regularly-scheduled activities to watch the game. I also realized that this is the first thing that really made me miss living in the Bay Area. Yes, I miss our friends and family - but they aren't contingent on that geographic area. Okay, and I also miss Kinder's. But as much as I love Kinder's, I don't long to physically be in their shops...although I do long for their Ball Tip Sandwich from time to time...but my point is that not having the glimmer of hope of getting to go to a game or the World Series parade made me miss home just a little bit.


To change subjects a bit, this was the first year Matt and I ever both dressed up for Halloween. It was really fun! We went with his and hers costumes, but tried to pick something not too mushy - Mr. and Mrs. Incredible! I thought they turned out pretty well for being homemade costumes:

We wore them to a Halloween trunk-or-treat our church did in a nearby neighborhood. Not only did we line up five or six cars in front of a couple of houses (thereby providing five or six times the candy to kids), but we also handed out hot chocolate / apple cider, took pictures of anyone who wanted them (to be mailed to them later) and had a car with games for kids to play. All in all, it was really fun.


...and here are a couple more pictures I've taken recently that I've especially liked:

CBRC Regatta (plus a few random updates)

Today I had the pleasure of participating in my first regatta in 6 years. It was really fun! This was the first regatta I've been able to make it to since I started rowing again a few months ago. Matt was kind enough to come out, cheer us on and take a few pictures:

Approaching the finish line

Crossing the finish line

We're the boat you can barely see by the orange buoy

Needless to say, I had a lot of fun.

Another exciting part of today was the Giants beating the Phillies in Game 1 of the NLCS. It was torture to watch (of course) but had the sort of outcome I like :)

No other HUGE news around here, although I did finish Battlestar Galactica and really, really liked it. I'm also super excited about the Sound of Music Sing Along coming up later this month - we're planning to go on the 26th. It should be fun! We've been working on putting our Halloween costumes together, too...I'll post a few pictures once they're complete (as long as they turn out the way we expect them to). 

On that note, a couple of new pictures: 

The mountain looked gorgeous as I was driving to dinner, so I pulled out my camera and took a quick picture while at a stop sign.

The clouds looked so cool as we left the apartment on 10/14! This was taken around 6:15pm.

The oars lined up, waiting to be used.

BSG, Guests, Pictures

I have recently become obsessed with Battlestar Galactica. I'd never seen it before (although I've wanted to), so when one of my friends mentioned it and lent me the DVDs it completely took over all my free time. I'm really liking it. I'm almost done with the third season and am excited to see how the show and characters progress.

In other news, Matt's brother and his friend are visiting right now. It's fun to see them, and is providing a nice excuse to visit a few of my favorite restaurants - including Happy Teriyaki #3 and Brewery City Pizza. We've also been having fun with our toy shotguns.

And finally, here are a few new photos:

Feel free to follow my full 365 Project at http://365project.org/eksidley/365.

Another Year Older

I just had a birthday! The whole getting older thing isn't really a big deal to me, but it's fun to celebrate. I loved all the gifts Matt got me this year. On top of delicious goodies and expandable animals, he splurged and got me Firefly on DVD:

The shark (Schroeder) and octopus (Olivia) are already soaking and growing - I'm having so much fun with them! I'm also trying to ration myself on the sweets, and have been successful so far.


We were able to celebrate over the past couple nights, too - last night at Brewery City Pizza with some local friends and tonight with cake at our Life Group. There were a few very generous friends that gave me unexpected gifts as well - gift cards, flowers, cookies, candy, etc. It was so fun to spend time with friends, and overall a very good birthday!


This year's photo a day project has continued to go well (we're now on day 9). Here are a few of my recent favorites:

September 6, 2010

September 7, 2010

September 9, 2010

And this one wasn't one of my official "photo of the day"s, but I liked the way it came out:

Recent Thoughts

In my last post I mentioned I decided to do a photo a day again this year. You can see all my pictures at http://365project.org/eksidley/365, but I'll post a few highlights here, too. Here are a couple:

September 2, 2010

September 5, 2010

So I've been converted to Google Chrome. It wasn't intentional, but last week Firefox randomly wouldn't work and, after complaining about it online, I was reminded of Chrome. After downloading it and trying it out for a few days, I have to say it's now my browser of choice (although I still like Firefox much better than Explorer). It has a lighter feel, probably because it doesn't have as many customization options. It also runs faster throughout my average workday. Firefox had a tendency to freeze up around 5pm (inconvenient and frustrating as I tend to work until 6pm). I thought it was simply the Internet since that was a time most of our neighbors were likely getting home from work and hopping online, but Chrome didn't freeze up at all, rendering me much less frustrated by the end of the day.

I've also been watching The West Wing again. Last year I talked Matt into watching it with me and we made it to the 5th season...and then lost all motivation. It's hard to power through the rough patch left when Aaron Sorkin left the show! Well, I ditched Matt, but I made it through and have thoroughly enjoyed watching seasons 6 and 7 (although I still have the last 2 discs of season 7 left). There are a lot of things that happen that I completely forgot about, and it's fun to see how much my understanding of the world has grown since it originally aired! 

On that note, I have laundry to fold.