I can show you the {Disney}world:Last weekend I found myself at Disneyworld..... truly the happiest place on earth and amidst the princesses and castles there is a more rustic side if you will, I thought I would begin there. -no fear fantasy will fallow-Yes this is an abundance of photos and for those who have been recently this will be a bore for you, but for those of you who haven't been....here is what the Animal Kingdom has in store for you: species that are extinct in the wild, beautiful enclosures made to look like ruins, and a few little thrill rides to break up the afternoon heat.

no I do not have a love child....this is Zoe one of my 3 nanny babies

DW2: Electro Parade, Small World, Fireworks

DW3: Finding Nemo Show

voila too many disney pics for one post but it's all over now

20003: (that is my zip code) when I blog stalk sometimes I don't want to read I just want pictures. I am sure that I could come up with something about blossoms, and time, and wonders of God, and how they appear over night and leave just as fast but really? Sometimes you just need pictures. Pictures that make your day, pictures that make you happy, but mostly pictures that make jealous you don't live here.......and yes I am not looking particularly stylish, just focus on being jealous of the blossoms......you're welcome.

Forward:here you have the Australian coat of arms. Someone once asked a native why the koala was not represented along with the emu and kangaroo....valid question. The answer was this, the kangaroo and the emu are depicted on the coat of arms because neither species due to their anatomical structure, can take a step back. What perfect subtlety, only forward movement. What a brilliant thing it would be if we as people simply moved forward in our work, our relationships, our family life, our personal growth. I like to think I move forward, improve, and leave the past, but then there are those times when I feel as though I am racing down the up escalator trying to regain what was lost, or redo what has already been done. . . but it is futile. A friend's husband always writes: I love you more today than yesterday but not as much as tomorrow. How I adore that thought...realizing that today is, and should be, more -in someway or another- than the day before but not as much as tomorrow. Living in the present but moving forward to the tomorrows, and never back to the yesterdays.

1 head romaine * 1/4 c. chopped almonds * 2 chicken breast * 1/4 c fresh raspberries

* blue cheese * salt * pepper

Put a little olive oil in a pan and warm, cube chicken and cook in oil along with salt, pepper, and almonds. When the chicken is done cooked but not browned add the blue cheese and let it get all melty, fyi this will happen quickly so watch it! Pull off heat, put a little into each romaine leaf and top with raspberries. It sounds weird I know...but this is what I do....grab the stuff in my fridge, toss it together, and then eat it :) blue cheese and raspberry is wonderful

Columbus: I am quickly learning not to judge.... cities that is :) Not gonna lie I am a bit of a city snob, love Chicago, love DC, love Paris, love lots about Cleveland {yes it's my new wild card city I will tell you more about why I love it later} hate NYC -really that much for a city with no truly amazing bakeries?- but there are so many cities that I am just sure I will hate... Miami, Tulsa, Dallas, however I may be wrong. I had never been to Columbus and it was on the list, but recent events took me there for a weekend and I was pleasantly surprised at the little charms this city had to offer. Great food, unique little shops.... this mural for one:

this alone makes this city great.

amazing galleries! all in a row {i may or may not have added to my collection}

and this lovely, Big Rock Little Rooster. Arguably one of the quaintest little boutique dress shops I have been in. I sucked in while zipping up that Vera Wang in the middle of the window and swoon....I look good in $13,000 of pale pink.

And with a view like this minutes from its booming metropolis, how could Columbus remain on my, "I hate you list"? (If this keeps happening I will NEVER go to Miami because I really don't want to like that city, and New York can't be the only one on the list)

Peas: I talk to my mom every day, not because I don't have friends, I do! But because I really love my mom.....okay I really love having someone listen to me babble on for hours daily and she never hangs up first :) Today she told me that my dad had asked her to plant peas. We plant peas every year so this a bit of a puzzle, she thought he was loosing it. He wanted a specific kind, not the snap peas or the sweet peas, but the peas that you have to shell. When he was little he remembers his grandmother shelling peas with all the woman in the neighborhood. They would gather in her living room with their bowls and bags and they would shell and talk for hours and then freeze their labors for the coming seasons. My dad wants peas so he can sit and talk and shell peas with my mom. They have had kids, traveled the world, seen the sights, tasted the culture, and all he wants is to sit and talk and shell peas. They aren't retired, they still travel, do crazy things, see the sights, but at the end of the day they still just want an excuse to connect. Over 30 years of marriage, 5 kids, too many houses to count, and they still have things to talk about, they still make each other laugh, she still thinks he's handsome and he still thinks she is the most beautiful woman in the world. They say that happily ever after doesn't exist...I beg to differ, it does and in this happily ever after they are shelling peas.

Ode to the Onion: can we just talk about how great fried stuff is? So great right. Well this is a story about my friend and me. I had a friend who didn't like onion rings....we aren't friends anymore. Now that I think about it we should have stayed friends so that when we went to lunch and I ordered these babies, I wouldn't have to share. Just a little MCS {middle child syndrome}

Best onion rings in the District are easily at Good Stuff Eatery. Don't go on a Saturday they are rushed and the rings suffer (almost more than you do for having to wait in that line).

Lazy Salad Niciose: you need this -serves 2-: the sweetness of the balsamic cuts the fishy tuna, then the tart moments of blue cheese and olives combined with the crisp romaine make this salad a win for summer. It's what I had in my fridge.

1 head romaine * 2 hard boiled eggs sliced *2T blue cheese (or more) crumbled

6 kalamata olives (or more) sliced * little salt * 1 can of tuna

chop the romaine finely, split into 2 bowls and top each with egg, cheese and olives.

take the tuna and add these:

2 T Olive Oil * 2 T balsamic vinegar * pinch of salt

put tuna, olive oil, vinegar and salt in a bowl mix up really good so the tuna is separated and well coated.

voila have fun eating what I eat

Acquaintance: tonight at a little BYU basketball viewing party someone asked me to, "tell me a little bit about yourself" stupid question! Being the middle child I didn't really talk until I was 5 and then it was only a sentence here and there until I was 23 and now you can't shut me up! Tell me a little bit about yourself? Not possible I will over-share, make you blush, and wish you were deaf all in a single sitting. But for the purpose of this post if there is one thing I could share with you it would be that for much of my life I have been slightly nerdy in my own ways yet tiaras give me is reaction: {I should have been a princess}

oh and the bozo that asked me the question did get a response, my answer, "I have a 163k miles on my car", and then I walked away. Tell me a little about yourself? really? ugh can't wait for global warming to burn us all to raisins so situations like this can be avoided.

Payback: here is a small glimpse of the type of abuse my friends have to deal with, someday it will catch up to me.... if you know Ruth, you know the memo on this check probably brought a red face an, "oh my goodness" and an uncomfortable giggle. Mission accomplished.

Not that kind of blog: this is not a cooking blog...betcha already figured that...however I do love to cook and this was particularly good so you get to look at, think about making it, but then end up eating rice crispies instead because you got tired.

serves 2 {no I am not expecting I just adapted my meal for 1 because I figure you have >1}:

1/2-1 c. sharp cheddar

8 small corn flour tortillas

*place 1/8th of the cheese in the pan over med heat and allow to melt, then add tortilla until the tortilla is warm not crispy, use a spatula to scrape up cheese using care not to separate the two.

Then get:

1 red pepper cut into thin strips(more if you love it)

olive oil

* heat oil for a few seconds in pan then add peppers until soft. Don't stir to much because you want them to get a bit blackened as well. Place on paper towel and set aside.

Cook this: and you can use the same pepper pan

2 chicken breast cubed

a bit more olive oil if needed

salt

pepper

2T OJ

orange zest

*cook chicken, salt, pepper, zest until the chicken is almost done then add the OJ and let simmer until the chicken is fully cooked.

Place the chicken and peppers in the cheesy tortilla and top with lettuce and cilantro. Voila. Enjoy your rice crispies.

DMV: had to renew my drivers license, the line took forever, had babies that weren't mine so I couldn't get my DMV flirt on, then the lady didn't tell me when she was taking the picture or where to look so one eyebrow is raised and I have an Elvis lip and she wouldn't let me retake it, no cool DMV lady, not cool. What was cool the picture I took of how it made us feel to wait that long..

{Divorce post coming at you but don't worry it's not emotional or mushy I just use the word once or twice}

Identity: our identity is who we are, it is what sets us apart, makes us unique. As a married couple you develop an identity, but it is crucial have your own individual identities as well. While being "one" and "united" is essential on many fronts, having a personal identity is so very important. "Married" is not who you are, it is a part of what you are. "Who" you are is an entirely different matter. Are you kind, patient, funny, short fused, service oriented, selfish around the edges, are you a closet couch potato, an in the shower singer, are you that person that pretends you are the orchestral conductor when a great song come on the car radio, do you dance in the kitchen, cry during Free Willy, secretly love the smell of permanent markers, are you afraid of the dark, do you swallow your gum, do you compulsively clean your car, bite your nails, or quietly fear the future, do you keep your fridge stocked with veggies because you like the idea but then weeks later end up with a crisper full of brown watery mess because idea and reality are 2 different things? You get my point. {and some but not all of those are part of my identity, I will let you guess which is which} Our quirks and loves and inconsistencies make us, us. When I got divorced I stopped doing all the things "we" did together because I was afraid it would hurt too bad. Some of the things we did, were also things I loved so in not doing them I allowed fear to govern my actions, and my identity suffered. As time has gone on I realized that is silly, I was crazy in love at one time and he and I did some great things together and I can still do those same things without him and without gobs of oozzy pain because I maintained my own identity. Here is a small list of things I avoided because I was scared, and the time it took to me to get over myself:

• Best Buy: 6 months upon my return, oh giant TV's how I love you and your 1080p/LED/65" glory, a girl can dream

• Buffalo Wild Wings: 2 months this was too long! I love wings! I love spicy garlic & can pound them like nobodies business

• Caps game on the glass: 8 months I go to Caps games all the time but I never sit on the glass even though I've had offers because that was an "us" thing....moron! it can also be a me thing. I adore hockey, I adore him for introducing me to it but it is okay for that to be "my" thing. Thanks Beh's for pulling me out of that slump! Laich I have missed seeing you up close and personal :)

So the moral of the story...I am learning not to let the fear of potentially stepping into the past for a minute, prohibit me from living life. Just because you shared something with someone you once loved does not mean it now has to be a faux pas or prohibited. Life is so that we may have joy and have it more abundantly and I feel that being true to your own person {and kick ass hockey seats with friends} brings that joy.

The" Y" in my life: I have xx not xy and I like it. I don't wish I was a boy, I love being a woman and I love men :) and I love the men in my life. But my favorite xy is my dad, Gary. Tonight while on the phone with him he said, "hey you want to hear something cool?"..."sure dad"... "okay be really quiet" ..."ounkkkkk shhhhh ounkkkkk shhhh ounkkkkk shhh" ...then the sound of my dad laughing quietly, then louder as the phone was brought back to his mouth, "your mom is so tired, did you hear her snoring?!" ....me laughing..."ya daddy, you are hilarious, have fun sleeping next to that!" How often does an adult daughter get to have conversation that great? We talked about the usual, Kenza, work, boys, he gave me a pointer to getting my break pads off, and then I got to listen to mom snore. So great. I love how my relationship with him has progressed.

{stop reading here if you like short and sweet blog posts, I am feeling long winded tonight and I really love my father so this could take a while, I won't be offended if you stop reading}

When I was 8 I remember sitting on our brown ad black striped couched in the house on Willow Court. Mom sat us all down and we knew something was wrong..dad was sick and she told us he may not live for as long as we had thought. From that moment on I distanced myself from him and everyone. How can you miss something you didn't love? Exactly, you can't. So I stopped loving as best as I could. 10 years later I witnessed a miracle. That word is thrown around all the time and some don't believe and think miracles are silly, but I know they are real. Every doctor said he should have been dead. 10 years ago my dad had an operation it's been 11 years since then and he is just fine, better than ever. His arms don't bend like they used to, his knee is replaced with surgical steel, he still hurts from the damage that the arthritis did but he is alive, he mows his lawn religiously, he loves his family desperately, and tonight he put the phone up to my snoring mother because he thought it was funny, and it was. 11 years ago when I found out he wasn't going to leave me I started to love again, starting with him. It was a gradual process that started slow but has gained tremendous speed over time. Now I like to think and hope that I love fearlessly, freely, and I don't worry about letting people in, because I learned from keeping him out that one's heart is too precious a thing to be kept from the wonder that comes from loving others. He taught me to catch, to love God, to mow a lawn, to change a tire, to fix a door knob, to pick a lock, to be strong, to be brave, and in unconventional ways, because I complicate things sometimes...he taught me how to love.

Shake it up: I like change-yep I mention it all the time- when I was little I would change my bedroom furniture around all the time, when I had a house I changed all the furniture around all the time, and now I am back to a bedroom and it is not quite big enough to move around....so I shake it up with changing the art and pillows :) voila what happened today -the minor change that is not pictured is that there are actually 2 white pillows in front of the green not just 1- and yes I secretly dream of having furniture and space to re-arrange again.

Message: today was 56 and sunny, trees are budding, daffodils are blooming, and the tourist are migrating into the city as the 100th Cherry Blossom Festival approaches {this is not good news! This brings intense cranky spasms as the normally peaceful museums become crowded noisy boxes of agony, thousands of teenagers -the only reason I am thinking of never getting married and having kids is because they will become teenagers, I hate teenagers-in matching " DC or Bust 2010" neon t-shirts crowd the sidewalks as they text and display basically planarian-esque intelligence with every step}. So along with these and all evidences that winter is over, to you Spring I say:

{welcome}

Priorities: voila...the contents of my fridge and it is obvious what takes priority :) 10 dz. eggs, 2 cakes, lettuce, naked juice, creme brulee, and some diet Coke left over from a party last week. Yep nothing really healthy but it is clear that dessert comes first in my life.

This:

This past weekend I drove through this..and this...

while eating this.....and this...

to get to this...

to see this...this....

and this....

with them (DJ, Jen, (me) and Gable). {not pictured Daniel and Hannah + Lyla}

Oh and this, this as you requested, is for you Mom.

And walking into the guest room in their* house and finding this...ya that was for me :)

*Daniel and Hannah who just finished med school and dental school! Yay.