Early Spring, Early Birthday

Punxsutawny Phil's prediction of early spring came true here in Austin. The weather was gorgeous this past weekend, and it seemed the whole city was outdoors! Ross and I were no exception, and yesterday after a very uplifting regional conference for our church in which we were able to hear our prophet speak, we went for a hike along Bull Creek in St. Edwards park, a pretty place full of woods and waterfalls and trails.

This weekend, too, Ross's family was in town. We had tons of fun with Julie, Matt and Scott- we saw Ghost Rider, ate at Fuddruckers, and best of all, I got an early birthday present, a digital camera!!! I took some pictures of the Mathesons, but their publicist deleted them from my camera before I could post them! But thank you again for the wonderful time and wonderful gift!

And I got one more early birthday present today. Ross made me the best spice rack in the world! I got so tired of the bottles falling out of my tiny cupboard everytime I went to cook something (if you look closely in the pics you can see a few bottles in plastic bags whose lids broke in those falls). Ross is a little disappointed in how it turned out- he already wants to make another with improvements :) - but I am absolutely in love with it and think it's the greatest thing ever!

Yesterday instead of enjoying the beautiful, 80 degree day we had, Ross and I headed to the movie theater for a matinee and saw Bridge to Terabithia. We both loved it! It was very true to the book, very well acted, the special effects weren't at all distracting but actually worked with the story, and in the end we both cried like babies. It was great!

Fun With Links

Ross and I had a pretty busy end to our last week. We visited the Blue Bell Ice Cream Factory for Valentine's Day (free ice cream- what a great Valentine's date!), Ross had a test on Thursday, Friday we spent the day at the temple in San Antonio, then Saturday I sang the Queen of the Night's Vengence Aria with the Texas Choral Consort in an evening of operatic arias and ensembles. I think I performed fairly well, despite feeling a bit hoarse, and Ross said he could tell the tempo Saturday night was a little too slow for me.

As for the hoarseness, I thought it might be my throat still recovering from coughing so much with my cold, but Ross is having throat issues as well, and when I sing lately I really feel kinda funny in my throat- just unresponsive and my voice doesn't seem to resonate in quite the same places it usually does. Perhaps we're dealing with some Cedar Fever?

Me today

I hate villains!

I hate stories where the good guys look like stupid fools for naively trusting the villain. We all know what the baddies are up to, but somehow the heroes can never see through the lie. I HATE that! And last night's Heroes episode was full of that kind of thing. But still I love the show- after not watching TV for so long, I am surprised I am getting into this show so much, but I can't stop watching it! And I can't stop following the comic, either. For all you Heroes fans that just watch the show, you really need to read the comic, too! This week's is all about Sylar and what happened between the last two episodes. He's so evil! So scary!

Beside being Heroes fans, what's new with Ross and me? I'm slowly getting over my cold- I get sick way too much, and everyone says "Take vitamins," and I do and still get sick. I think I just have a crappy immune system. But at least I don't feel as guilty being so unproductive when I'm sick. I have an excuse! And luckily Ross hasn't caught my cold yet, and he's been quite productive and has pretty much keeping caught up in his classes, despite the stress. Life is good, despite the villains!

The Perfect Dinner

Earlier this week, I believe I achieved the perfect dinner! I found this recipe for barbequed ribs on bettycrocker.com, and we LOVE it! So good! Combine that with really moist biscuits and a green salad, chocolate pudding for dessert, and voila! The best meal we've had in a long time! And one of the easiest, too!

Where does time go?

Time has been flying by lately- I can't believe how fast it is! I haven't been doing much of anything with that time, either, but here is a list of my current time stealers, not counting teaching, of course:

1) Rearranging my living room- amazing how much more space and light we got just by moving my piano from one wall to another, from moving our TV from an old bookcase to an old desk, and from freeing up our fireplace. It's wonderful!

2) Brother Cadfael

3) Heroes (I love the graphic novels!)

4) Books I'm currently reading (a few at a time since I'm in a non-fiction mood at the moment): Square Foot Gardening, How to Get Out of Debt, Stay Out of Debt, and Live Prosperously, and Jesus the Christ.

5) And of course, blogging!