Randomness: Things!

This plastic bubble thing was a great moment of my childhood.  My younger brother and I used to play with them all the time.  I found them again at the Dollar Tree and boy was it fun!

This painted pony was my absolute favorite one.  I bought it at Old Faithful, and I don't remember if they had it at the lake hotel gift shop.  Even if I did get into an "argument" with my gorgeous cowboy friend about which location had the better horses.

I love penguins (unless they are from Pittsburgh).  They are adorable and look so cuddly!  That and they usually are the best part of movies that have penguins in them!

Hey!  Look it's me!  At least I like to pretend it is me.  It should be and not just because that hat is something awesome!  But it was made for me by my Grandma.

The parental units got me this in Germany.  When I was in Germany, I got myself a purse with edelweiss on it cause they are awesome.  And I love the song.  I hope to have my super talented best friend paint something similar to this on a wood chest that I have.

Jelly, Jelly, Jellyfish

Alright since water creatures make me really, really happy!  And in recent years, the good old jelly fishie has intrigued me.  They are floaty and kinda creepy.  There is something I like about them, something ethereal, something effortless.  But at the same time, there is something haunting about them.  Like ghosts of the sea, invisible, sometimes dangerous, something remarkably and wholly different.

A Light to Guide

What can a girl say about lighthouses?  Other than they rock!!!  So this love affair with lighthouses, I think it comes from my dad.  He is a history kinda guy.  He is a retired engineer, but always said if he would have fail engineering school then he would have been a history teacher.  I think he was much happier as an engineer with a history habit.  The man reads everything, coincidentally so do I (especially if it is nerdy!).  He is one of those people that can read a book and watch the history channel at the same time, and follow along.  He took us to see many a lighthouses in our younger years.  And even with a rather annoying fear of heights, I fell in love!

Petals: J-term Malaysia

So it has to be done.  Yeah, I've dedicated a post or three to this trip.  But not one with tropical flowers and plants.  If you look close enough there might be a butterfly or two in here.  So once again, I loved this trip, we had a blast as a group.  Saw things I might never see again.  And lovely bright and vibrant flowers!  And this post might have some awesome trees in it too!

Light on a Lake

I went to college in Bemidji for my bachelors.  As I've mentioned Bemidji is about 2.5 hours from everywhere that is any where.  Don't get me wrong I adore Bemidji!  How can you not?  It is a lovely area, and a quaint town.  It's got character!  But even thought it has an awesome lake, none can compare to the one that Duluth has got.  I think it was my third year in Bemidji, when my roommate, my bestie, and I went to Duluth.  It was fall semester, 'cause Jess became my roommate the previous spring.  So the three of us piled in to my old Lincoln Town Car (named the Jonas Quinn II, but called the JQII, we all had a bit of a Stargate Obsession at the time, and I was madly in love with Jonas Quinn) and headed to Duluth.

Oh My! Fishies and Sea Lions!

I might have mentioned that I took an Oregon road trip in 2008.  We spent a lot of time on the coast.  Sadly it was the rainy season.  But honestly I think that it made for a rare kind of pretty!  But one of my favorite places in Oregon is Newport.  There is an awesome aquarium there.  I have been to it twice and I love it.  Very in the elements, and doesn't have that confined feeling that they sometimes get.  It is not a big secret, that I love marine animals.

Canucks @ Wild Pictures

Ok, so I was thinking about blogging about the Canucks/Wild hockey game I was at the other night.  But as a Canucks fan first, it was a sad and pitiful event so this was a hard one.  I was going to do this right away, but I too disapointed.  I thought they were going to do this, underestimate a desperate Wild team, and get crushed.

Across the Globe: Thailand

This is the third post about my J-term in South East Asia.  Thailand!  Thailand was not my favorite place we went to.  I might have had a different opinion if we would have spent more time in places other than Bangkok.  Bangkok was ok, but it was LA on steroids or something.  It was way too big for my taste.  But we saw a lot of nifty stuff there anyways.  The coolest thing in my opinion was that at night, because of the temples and the lights, it looked like the whole city sparkled!

Petals: Como Zoo

Lady slipper

Como Zoo is an awesome little zoo/conservatory in St. Paul.  They had a lot of monkeys there.  And at some point in the next year, polar bears.  Which is totally a post for another time.  It is awesome, but in the fall, which is the season it was when I went there last, many of the zoo critters are not there.

Mesa Verde!

So one of my favorite places we traveled to when I was a kid was Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado.  We traveled a lot, if you haven't noticed.  It instilled a great love a travel and adventure in me.  I love to travel, but have gotten spoiled in recent years.  I don't camp anywhere near as much as I used to.  And I like bathrooms, with running water.  But that is a whole 'nother story.  But Mesa Verde is a place that I think I love more as an adult than when I was a kid.  I understand it better, I know the history, and a look at it differently.

Across the Globe: Malaysia

Ok, since I did Singapore I guess Malaysia is next.  This one might be a two-parter.  We spent the bulk our our vacation class in Malaysia.  Primarily in Kuala Lampur.  Our stay was broken up by a short stint in the rain-forest.  I liked KL, it was a huge city, but very navigable.  It was not overwhelming in the least.

Across the Globe: Singapore

So my one study abroad experience took me to Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.  It was a J-term while I was in Bemidji, I did get 6 credits for being, well, a tourist.  In fairness, I did have to take a course once a week before I went, I had to write a paper, keep a journal, and take a test.  So yeah, a tourist.

Petals: Monterrey

I know, I know I've already dedicated an entire posts to gardens in Monterrey, and here is another one.  But hey, at least I finally got one about the aquarium off.  I have a hell of a lot of Monterrey flower photos.
=D  <-- don't mind crazy smile guy over here, he's not that creepy honest...don't judge me...
Okay moving on.  Monterrey, what can I say, but glorious!

Kansas Detour

Ok, this one has to be a geek out post for me.  FYI, I love cowboys and and cheesy westerns.  People mock me for this.  (That and I know all the words to Rawhide)  Don't judge me.  It started with some Rawhide marathons with my mom.  Then we branched out in to the Big Valley.  You name it I am willing to watch it, so long as there is a cowboy in it.  So you might be wondering where I am heading with this preamble.  Well, to Dodge City Kansas of course.

A movin' and a Shakin'

Ok, since Micaela vetoed the Yellowstone posts, I guess I will have to travel somewhere else for this post.  So, I guess it is Kentucky's time.  Woot!  I went to Kentucky in fall of 2008.  I have to amazing and wonderful friends that live there.  Megan and Erica, and they are two of my absolute favorite people on the whole entire planet.  I spent the few days after thanksgiving with them.  We went hiking in Red Rock Canyon, and to the Shaker Village near Lexington.  This post is going to be about the Shaker Village.

A Snow Lodge Winter...Are you crazy enough?

 Gunga-ga-lunga, ~Who has more fun then we do?

Having spent two winters in the Yellowstone interior I honestly thought I would never be warm again.  It's been a year since I left the park, and I am finally warm.  Yay, just in time to take you lovely people on a trip to one of the most crazy wonderlands in the world.  A Snow Lodge winter!



The Canyon is Grand

I never know what to blog about.  I am always afraid that I am boring you wonderful people who read this.  But alas, I don't think so.  So it does become hard to keep it fresh.  Don't get me wrong I haven't scratched the surface on my pics, but I don't want to be too repetitious.
It has also been hard to get new stuff.  I've been a bit under the weather lately.  It's been a slow process but I have finally succumbed to it.  So I have spent the last few days being lazy and waiting impatiently for the hockey season to start.Oh and the weather has been crap, so I am not braving the elements just yet.

Petals: Shore Acres

This one might be hard to pin down into one post.  Shore Acres State Park in the Coos Bay Oregon area.  It is an amazing place, if you got a hankering to see hundreds of flowers at any time, I'd get my bum there if I were you.  It is like heaven!

Sourrounded by Water

"Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream." John Steinbeck: Cannery Row.

So I have finally gotten around to the Monterrey Bay Aquarium.  Not sure I why I was putting this one off.  Probably because there are so many pictures of the joint.  So the Monterrey Bay Aquarium is at the end of Cannery Row in Monterey California.  It is housed in an old cannery.  So it has a very unique feel to it.

Obsessions: Framing and Re-Framing and Re-Framing

 Let's be honest for a moment people, I have a problem...
...A serious problem.  I am addicted to framing and re-framing pictures.  It was a problem in college.  I would change out the dozen or so frames every few weeks.