saturday.

i started my morning reading on the front porch with a cup of coffee, listening to the birds greet each other. an hour later i was watering my flowerbeds and picking out the leaves as i listened to the whistles and cheers at the soccer match going on at the park. an hour after that i was on the lawn repotting plants and sipping iced tea, listening to joey quietly growl at the mailman who was dropping off some bills. two hours later i was following michael on my bike as we rode to subway for lunch, listening to the cars as they passed us. a few minutes from now i'm going to give joey a bath in my farmhouse sink, listening to michael nail the new baseboards into the kitchen walls. an hour from now i'm going to sweep the floors and dust the tables as i listen to creedence clearwater revival on the record player... i could go on and on... but i won't. :D

dessert.

travis and olivia came over last night for apple blossoms and ice cream. they also brought this wiggly cuteness with them. she entertained us all with her girly wiggles and whines and overall adorableness.

rainy zoo day.

on saturday michael granted my birthday wishes and took me to the LA zoo. it was a rainy and amazing day. the zoo was so quiet without the usual crowds and it was nice to walk hand in hand together under our umbrellas. the best animal we saw was the steller's sea eagle. i couldn't get a proper picture of it because of the cage, but whoa was it impressive! it's 3 feet tall and almost the size of a condor. the 9-foot long male komodo dragon was also pretty sweet.

foggy day optimism!

it's my birthday today, i am twenty-five. it's a little strange to think of myself at twenty-five, especially since i still look about seventeen. i get carded a lot, not that i buy loads of alcohol or anything. it's more like the people at the grocery store watch me and wonder how i'm getting home. sometimes they'll offer to buy me candy bars. they probably figure my mom's going to come pick me up and change before we go to my soccer game. not really, that was a bunch of made-up stuff, but being 5'2'' tall doesn't help. (i've had a lot of coffee this morning by the way)

i bought a tea-latte at starbucks as a birthday present to myself. it's called London Fog and it's wicked good. sort of an earl grey/lavender brew. i suggest getting it without the vanilla syrup, unless you like your tea very sweet. i substitute it with a little honey. :)

on a more somber note, today is also the anniversary of roe v. wade. today people in our nation are celebrating the right to kill their unborn children. (i'm going to stand up on my little soap-box for a second...) when my mother was pregnant with me, she had many complications during her pregnancy. long story short, her doctors suggested she have an abortion because it was too risky to her health. thankfully she, laughed in their faces, chose to continue the pregnancy and gave birth to a healthy chubby jenny. if my mother had been anyone else, i might not have been able to celebrate my twenty-fifth birthday today. so yeah, abortion is a personal issue for me. after three miscarriages i truly see children as a blessing. as a person unable to experience such a blessing, i just cannot understand why someone would willingly terminate a pregnancy.

i don't usually dip into the political world, forgive me if my words were unorganized. i'd love to talk more though, say over some London Fog maybe? ;)

wind brings change.

it's supposed to be a breezy 82 degrees today. normally i would be pretty annoyed of such an unusually warm winter, but this year i've been looking forward to the spring. i can't wait for all the bright poppies to pop out in the most odd and unexpected places, i want to open my windows and smell the sweet alyssums in the air. i've already planted a few lavender plants and boxwood in the front yard and can't wait to get my hands on those creeping sun roses and make room for more.

michael and i have decided it's time to clear out the backyard and till the soil in preparation of new grass seed. i hope to start setting the boundaries on my vegetable garden and flower beds and oh man i can't wait to start pruning those citrus trees! we also hope we can recruit some of our friends and family and paint the exterior of the house next month. the warm santa ana winds seemed to have started early this year, but the spring just cannot come soon enough. :(

ooh? sour? or SWEET?

behold the perks of having a backyard...! (lemon and grapefruits respectively) somewhere between the indian summers and clogged freeways i seem to forget, but living in so cal is pretty awesome.

2009.

as i tried to remind myself (over and over again) to write "09" on today's date, i wondered, as many people do, what the year 2009 might bring. will we be able to pay our new fat morgage payments?!? will there be another unbearable indian summer? will i have any new additions to the family, be it either human or animal? i also thought about how 2009 meant that it's been seven years since i graduated high school, four years since i first met michael and especially how it's been (nearly) 25 years since i was a chubby, wobbly baby.

curious as i am about the future, i just hope that this year turns out safe and healthy for everyone. (sappy and cliche i know, but) happy new year!