last year about this time .... now, your turn!

 these ladies that threw me a tried-to-be-a-surprise-bridal-shower .... :)

 my student workers' bulletin board ...

claimed my first dog, and first real boyfr'en'   :)

 took engagement pictures almost a year after we were engaged (and two days before our wedding)

got married and celebrated with a fabulous mix of friends and family in Louisville, Kentucky :)

Something fun (now it's your turn!)

Make a new post with your answers   I dare you!  


 :)




ten words that best describe me 
creative
silly
loving
crafty
reader
writer
distracted
special
smart
feisty








five things i'm most proud of
getting a BA
I have sewn myself a quilt.
my husband's determination
having ridden 100 miles on my bike in one day (in the rain)
I have run about 8 miles at one time




my favorite foods 
lasagna
Mackinac Island Fudge / Moosetracks ice cream
canned green beans
Cuban sandwiches
Navajo tacos




my favorite things to do
Try new things!
run
hike
crochet at the movies
read
doodle
create things
hang out with my husband n puppy
fish
BE OUTSIDE
rearrange furniture


something special about me
I might be a mermaid
 ... I have some Irish blood, so even though I have blonde hair, it can look red in certain light...


three things i hope to learn this year
How to knit more than one stitch
some more Greek
bits and pieces of homesteading life

Hey girls!

Hey girls!  Long time no post.  I was just wondering what everyone has been up to lately and what projects you all are working on?  I would love to hear any updates!

Moving

First of all, I'm glad I get to be included in this fabulous group of ladies!

Although I've been on study abroad, and mission trips, and seriously considered overseas missions as a career, I've never lived further away than an hour from my parents. This also means that I had high school friends, college friends, and church friends that all lived close by. I loved that we almost had too much going on, so many options!

In deciding to move to Hawaii, I knew it would be a little difficult to adjust from so much community, but I was a little excited to centralize my relationships. We were never able to really invite people from our neighborhood to church since it was so far, and many of our friends from church were equally as far in the other direction, making finding time for us to get together difficult. I'm excited for a community that can be more integrated!

So far the process has been slow, but encouraging. I meet a lot of people at the park, and a few have seemed likely friends. We currently live in Chinatown, so a good number of people I meet don't speak English. It's just hard knowing that it's a long battle to establish true friendships. And trying to keep up with people in Michigan (or elsewhere), while not dwelling on the past so I can make Hawaiian friends is hard.

What is most interesting to me in all of this is that most of you have moved away from MI long before me.

Any hints on starting fresh in a new place?

Mahalo,

Tracie

Girly stuff :)

Heya ladies I am going to be posting some fun links ... that maybe you can give advice on, let me know if you want to help make things, ... :D


for example:   http://www.projectwedding.com/post/list/pw-guide-article-diy-gorgeous-chiffon-and-tulle-flowers    are super cute ... :D

Kelli's Bucket List

So here is my bucket list. It is mostly stuff I want to do since Elijah isn't old enough to really do much yet.

Summer/Fall 2011 “Bucket” List

Go to the beach with Elijah

Go to the Shipshewanna flea market

Have a garage sale

See fireworks

Go to Mackinaw Island (done)

Walk the board walk in Grand Haven, and maybe watch the musical fountains

Go to Ludington

Go camping for a weekend??? (Could be scary)

Go kayaking

Bike the Erie Lackawanna Trail

Visit downtown New Buffalo & Redamaks

Pick blueberries

Pick apples at Crane’s Orchard (or elsewhere), and of course get their cider & donuts

Fly a kite

See a movie in the theater

slightly vague bucket list

fine, fine, fine. I can make a bucket list, too...


(and here is another one!)   hehe... they are quite trendy, apparently.
This summer (which is speeding by too rapidly) I am going to attempt to:

1. set a date (we are thinking December)
2. get a LORT done on planning with your help and my right-hand-man's help :)  (yes, Davy)...
3. fly a kite
4. go camping (I've been asked already, woot!)
5. get a JOB so i can pay for wedding-y things
6. burn some things in a fire pit
7. run at least 8 miles again
8. find /buy a bike and ride it
9. not kiss my fiancee :)    (we've survived so far)
10. read a book of some sort that is at least a few pages long
11. finish christee and jordan's blanket (...)
12. surprise somebody with something amazing

Summer Bucket list

So this summer I decided to put together a bucket list for the kids with different activities that we want to do.  Every year I have one but it's usually pretty limited.  The past three summers my kids were pretty young and we didn't venture out very much.  This year both of them are old enough and they enjoy doing similar things.  This is the list that I came up with (these activities are geared towards a 3 year old and a 1 and a half year old):

Picnic in the Park
Visit a local water park
Participate in the library summer reading program
Camp out in the backyard
Go to a 4th of July parade
4th of July fireworks
Domino's Petting farm in AA
Zoo
Local Farmers market
Finger painting
Make banana splits
Make ice cream sundaes
Play in the sprinkler
Paint with water colors
Make doughnuts
Armada fair
Visit a nursing home
Blow bubbles
Stargaze at Meme and Papa's
Roast marshmallows
See an outdoor movie
AA Children's Museum
See a "cheap" movie with Alyssa
Metro Beach
Make a red, white and blue dessert
Make smores
Outdoor bowling
Ride bikes to get ice cream
Troy Museum and Historical Village
Sterling Heights Nature Center
IKEA
Great Lakes Crossing
Bunert One Room School house

I would love to see everyone else's bucket lists!

Birthday Boy!

somebody turned 1 yesterday! :)  I took videos of him eating cake and opening presents, but they are rather long... you will have to get them via Skype if you want to see them! :)


Happy birthday, Elijah! :)
...and congrats, Kelli and Dennis at surviving almost 2 years of being parents! =D

foam board bowls

This is interesting!  I had no idea you could do this with foam board or that it was call sintra
http://deliacreates.blogspot.com/2011/05/whitesintra-bowls.html

homemade flowers

http://www.dana-made-it.com/2011/05/tutorial-simple-wedding-flowers.html

These flowers are pretty cool!  Amanda, you could use them for your wedding.  ;-)

Elijah's Poem :)

Living with an almost-toddler can be interesting at times! Elijah has recently started throwning mini tantrums when he doesn't get something he wants and also has started protesting eating his veggies. I really didn't think that this stage started until later (he's not even 1 yet!), but now I know it starts WAY too early. I suppose each stage comes with fun/exciting parts and also hard/frustrating parts. I'm sure Danielle knows this too! So I got bored during lunch and wrote a poem from Elijah's perspective :):

Peas are good for squishing
And putting in my hair
Beans are good for throwing
Or hiding in my chair

"Eat all your yummy veggies"
Mommy likes to say
But I would so much rather
Play away the day

a List and a beautiful blog

If you get a chance, this blog is totally worth checking out. :)   It's written by Ann Voskamp, author of One Thousand Gifts. That's all about that - it's beautiful, well-written, and brings one to the Saviour with each post.




in other things, here is a small - yet growing - list of things I want to share with David. (he has a similar list)...
I've never seen the Rocky series, or filled out a bracket. I've read some good books that I'd love to share with him.  I've been some places that I'd LOVE to take him to some day, and he has places he wants to take me ...


So here's part of MY list.
1. read AND watch Lord of the Rings (the series) with him.  (I've done both, he hasn't).
2. Watch all of Rocky with him. (I haven't)
3. Read the Anne of Green Gables series. (Reading the first book to him!)
4. Read the Dark is Rising Series with him
5. Watch Life is Beautiful.
6. Read L'Engle's Wrinkle in Time (and the others) with him
7. Read misc. Shakespeare with him.
8. Watch Casper (so he can see the "can i keep you" phrase ;)  )
9. Watch / Read Dr. Zhivago.
10.fill out a bracket (I've never done one!)
11. kiss him, Lord willing ... (but that's not until marriage, so... hehe).

old, married friends: anything you think I should add?

resurrection rolls #2

I made a post about the resurrection rolls on my other blog.  Check it out! http://thriftycraftinmama.blogspot.com/2011/04/resurrection-rolls.html

They were really yummy!  I think they were better the next day then they were the day that I made them.

My stealthy pooch

Yay for almost Easter! He is Risen!

I am making a breakfast casserole type thing for the breakfast tomorrow at church. It's a Betty Crocker classic, and my first attempt! I hope it's yummy. In the afternoon we are headed down to Denver to see Buck's family and have a wonderful dinner.

I found out today how stealthy my dog really is. She's too stealthy for her own good. I started thawing the sausage in the sink to make my casserole earlier this afternoon. Buck and I left for a couple hours, come back, and see Riley in the kennel. So we know she's done something wrong... Somehow she either jumped up in the sink or stood on her tip toes to reach the small package of meat and sunk her teeth into it! We found the half-eaten package on the couch. sigh. Never a dull moment! Don't worry, I decided not to cook it up for the church folk tomorrow. The dog hair might have given it away...

resurrection rolls

I think I might try making THESE for Easter.  I like the idea for teaching and they look super yummy.  I will let you know how they turn out if I end up making them.  Would love to hear comments/see pics if anyone else makes them.

It's raining cats and dogs in here.

It is raining, and the house is leaking again.

I made some 'art' the other day. A friend and I went to Gone Wired Cafe to say goodbye to our friend Marie, who is heading to Australia for a year. At the cafe, they have a light box with sand on it and tools to make art in the sand. I made something neat, took a picture of it, and then used my handy photoshop iphone app to make it colorful. Here is the result, it think it's pretty neat:

It's a Super Nintendo World

Hmmm... so this is what is blog is!! I have leveled up in the technology world. If I were Mario, I would wear the big pants now!

Well, it's currently snowing outside and it makes me a little sad this time of year. I'm ready for hiking and exploring and seeing grass again, but I guess snow is good because it means more water and less wildfire. And now people in Denver can water their grass again.

Just got back from Cancun! (Which is why the snow is that much harder to deal with right now). We did a lot of beach bumming, soaking up the sun and we also got to see Chitchen Itza, the ancient Mayan ruins. The locals call it Chicken Pizza for us tourists. :) After visiting Mexico I want to learn more Spanish! (Amanda, want to be my online tutor?)

I think I will go plant my lettuce seeds in my indoor greenhouse now. AKA some clear plastic takeout boxes from Noodles & Co. And maybe in 2 months when it stops snowing I can transplant them outside! I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Visitors & Smoothies....

This month has been crazy so far. Lots of visitors and lots of things going on. The in-laws visited at the beginning of the month. Then Manda, Danielle, Alyssa and Malachi visited and I loved seeing you all, I had tons of fun! I love having visitors and opening my house to others! I've also been trying to have more people over during the week just to break up the everyday normal routine. It has been good!



I have also been on a smoothie kick lately. Dennis and I are doing the Dave Ramsy budgeting thing and trying to save money, so one way of doing this is eating less junk food and going out to eat less. To get our "sweets" or "dessert" fix, I have been making lots of smoothies. They are relatively inexpensive, tasty, and healthy (we are also trying to eat healthier).  I also got a little booklet of 50 smoothies recipes from the food network magazine, which helps me with ideas. I have tried mango-banana, (really good) strawberry-banana (good), strawberry shortcake (ok, kinda bland), creamy pineapple (good), mexican coffee (really good), banana-pear (ok, pear doesn't add much flavor), and cantelope strawberry (nasty, don't try it).  I'm sure I'll be making lots more, I'll let you know if I find some more really good ones!!

My first post!

Hey Gals!  Not sure who all is on this but I will try to post every once in a while.  So I love to thrift store shop and so does Amanda.  One of the blogs I follow A New Dress A Day is so awesome!  The girl takes clothes that she finds in thrift stores or that people send her and she makes a totally new and up to date fashion out of it.  We are talking big muu muu shapeless dresses or clothes from the 80's.  Check her out here.

hello! Is is me you're looking for?

Hey, kids!  I thought it would be fun to start a blog for all of my bug-sisters. This is just one way we can stay caught up with our ridiculously fast lives, share recipes / crafts that we really need to share, and encourage each other in the Word!

So here are a few pictures from when I was housesitting for a friend during spring break!

pretty orchids in the greenhouse 

5 fat whitetails lurking outside  (until the dog scared them away!)

perty alium in the greenhouse

beautiful, FRAGRANT orchid in the greenhouse

So there... are a few pictures for you!

Also, here is a really, really good (and well-educated) speaker for you. He's very challenging, too:
Jim Grier!   (you can download his sermons / lectures to listen to later).