What makes me

eager to ....

To dance?  The footloose soundtrack.  Also a little known fact: Any time I hear country music now I want... no, NEED to two step.  I miss you Texas.  I miss you El Chaparral.

To laugh?  Seeing people I love do silly things.  Or sometimes, just being around them.  I'm a giggle box.

To smile?

To cry?  Legends of the Fall, every time... it gets embarrassing after awhile.

To blog?  Talking to my parents and thinking about my friends.

To write a book?  When I think about my desire to share my experiences with others.

To make a yummy meal?  When I hear the word Mediterranean.

To play the guitar?  When I listen to Enter the Worship Circle.

To rearrange my room?  When I feel like a change.

Easter Sunrise

Last Sunday morning, we packed up really early and drove to the beach to watch the sunrise with our friends.

Norah and Aliza had a great time in the sand:

And so did everybody else:

The sunrise was beautiful!

Even the Burj Khalifa thought so...

M&M's on a Rooftop

Last week I went to a walk-up movie with some friends.  It was just like a drive-in movie except without a car.  And it was a little unfortunate that it was a walk-up movie because I tripped and fell on the stairs... it didn't show the rest of the movie goers my true aptitude for walking.  Like I said unfortunate.

But check it out: Wafi, one of the malls here, holds this walk-up, sit-in, watch-out movie experience called Peanut Butter Jam.  And while you're watching the movie, you get to sit on M&M bean bags.

Quite nice, right?

To make things better they were showing Meet the Parents.

And I got to share the experience with these girls:

Night well spent.

An Encouragement to my friend Amanda

This just happened a few days ago:

Yup, still rockin' the triangle.

And you had everything to do with that.  :)

Love you!

He's Back

For the last few weeks I haven't been able to see Gig.  When your parents take a trip to Disney World without you (even if you're long gone out of the house), it's harder to stay in touch.  Thus, there have been fewer opportunities for skype dates.  And honestly, you may have noticed a few things during this time period:

1. I haven't been blogging as much.  This proves that much of my inspiration comes from Gig.
2. I haven't been singing as much.  Or at least not so loudly that you can hear it across the world.  Yeah- that used to happen a lot before the last few weeks.
3. My new smile started to look like a frown.

But tonight, I got to see Gig and it was wonderful!

I even sang a song to him that I made up.

It goes like this:

"Happy Easter to you.

Happy Easter to you.

Happy Easter dear Gig,

Happy Easter to you."

This picture shows his fond reception of my impromptu Easter song.

Cry, Me? No.....

I have become a bit of a "crier" since moving here.

If you know me at all, you'll know that the statement above is not true.  I've always been a crier.

I just looked up crier in the dictionary for a bit of a spellcheck and it says,

1. "an officer who makes public announcements in a court of justice."  That's me.
2. Short for "Town Crier."  Also me.
3. Or.... this is the one I really like: "A person who shouts out announcements about their wares; a hawker."  

Me written all over it.

With that said, I've noticed that I snivel the most when I'm holding new born babies.  And of course, with Amara Muthiah being born a week ago, I've had an occasion to "turn on the waterworks."

She's the most beautiful baby in the world!  Congrats Sam and Lenny!

My Shoes on Wrong

On Fridays, Aliza and I stay at church while Norah goes home with her mum.  Our goodbye at this point is always a lot of Norah telling me, "Back, kay?  Back, kay?"  And I always assure her that I will see her soon.

Last time we had to say goodbye under these circumstances, I got an email afterwards telling me this:

"In the car on the way home Norah was so worried about you that she burst out with great clarity of thought and speech, 'Mamma!  Go back get KATE!'"

And that's why she's my "Shoes on Wrong".

The Next Yaya Reel

Yaya's in love

with her pink big girl bike.

This was Yaya as she opened her eyes to see her big present on her birthday.

That beautiful hair featherness on her head was another one of her presents, from Norah.

And this was Yaya with her new wheels.

Don't be alarmed, this is her traditional and customary "I love this!"-face.

Who needs a prince when you have wheels like this?

Playdoh Princess

Aliza loves Playdoh so much that sometimes she ends up looking like this:

Notice her jeans.  It seems that her Playdoh has become one with her.

If I didn't know better and I saw her walking down the street, I'd say she looks like a pretty serious artist.

A Question Only An Aussie Could Answer

Do you consider possums and sugar gliders to be the same thing?

Because the other day, I was in the girl's room doing a bit of light reading and found this:

"'Listen to me, Green Frog.  You can learn to swim,' says Old Possum, coming down her tree."

When I taught science to kids, we Americans would always refer to that little furry creature on the left page as a sugar glider.  So, I was just wondering.....

Should she be referring to herself as "Old Possum"?

Is it just her Aussie name?

I mean... a marsupial is as a marsupial does.

Food Court Mumbo Jumbo

Just a little food court fun...

Don't Try This at Home

Two Different Sides of the Same Coin

Abstract Art

Cutest

Lost in Thought

Glamour Subway Shots

Just a cup of tea this morning

We got an amazing package a few weeks ago from Gloria's parents that included some Yogi Tea.

The thing I love about Yogi Tea is that all of the packets include a wise saying on the tab.

This morning my tea said this:

For some reason, this wise saying made me stop in my tracks and hold my breath.

Here's why...

In Isaiah 55:6-8 it says:

6 Seek the Lord while he may be found;

call on him while he is near.

7 Let the wicked forsake his way

and the evil man his thoughts.

Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him,

and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways,”

declares the Lord.

Should our thoughts be forming the world when we are the ones who have forsaken the ways of God?

I would rather it be His thoughts that are forming the world.

How many...

pictures of J-Town looking like this:

could I post on my blog?

Answer:  The world may never know.

Notorious C.U.P.C.A.K.E.

Cupcake has a few more letters than B.I.G.... but I figured this title would work anyway.

The girls helped us celebrate Aliza's birthday last week, and boy- what a celebration it was!  It even included cupcakes.  And I found out what happens when you mix those two things: the girls and cupcakes.
It's notorious, as in: famous, well-known, or scandalous.

Let me show you, this is how it started:

Here's Subject A:

Seemingly interested in the art of making cupcakes.

And here's Subject B:

Obviously more interested in the sprinkles.

And yet look who ended up inhaling the sprinkles after the cupcakes were made:

Notorious Subject A

Even after the incident shown above, Subject A had enough room in her tummy to eat one of her birthday cupcakes.  Thank Goodness.

And Subject B made it out okay too.

Resting

I've realized over the years that people have different and very personal definitions of rest.  I mean- I studied rest, right?  Recreation and leisure.... for some people it doesn't get more restful than that.  I have to say, if things were different and it had not been the essence of my degree plan, I would still be a true believer in rest.

Because Sundays are my day off, they are my day of rest.  And today was.. well, you know.

It started with this:

A bus to a waterpark with 2 wonderful friends, Kate and Bethany.

I hadn't been to a waterpark since middle school when I went for a band trip. And... it was unbelievably FUN!

And then it continued here:

My very favorite place, Lime Tree Cafe.

Need I say more?

When I got home, I was reminded by my dear friend Kate that I needed to really rest, so I ended up here:

On my balcony with the word, a bowl of ice cream and golden grahams and the beautiful weather outside.

(It feels just like an early summer day in Texas right now.)

And now as I'm typing this post, it looks like this:

And there it is

REST.

Esther

It's amazing when people pop into your life at unexpected times.  Like the other day when Norah brought a picture of our friend Esther into the kitchen.  Gloria and I both exclaimed, "Esther!!!"  And it made me so happy that I had to take a picture of all of them together!

"Do you remember...

this lady?" I asked Aliza and Norah earlier today.

"Yeah!  It's Miss Amanda!  Why are you looking at her like that?"

They responded.