Day 25

Post a picture of your day...




How about a couple?
That's Jake unpacking some of my stuff that I brought to his place; the first is the work in progress in making his apartment more wife-worthy. This week Jake and I started gradually moving the stuff from my apartment to his, so I won't have as much to pack and move during finals week and the weekend after finals when I have to move out of my apartment. Bringing just some of my things over this weekend has gotten me really excited for being married and living with him! He definitely has a bachelor pad; lots of random furniture, no pictures or anything on the walls, no nice plants...just bringing some things this week has already made it more homey :) Every time I have run out of my things to put away and organize at his apartment, I get sad because I have a lot of fun doing that. It will be nice to to not have a lot of little things to move later; just the furniture to worry about when my dad comes to help move me. My furniture is better than his ;) So that was my evening at least; preparing for marriage! The rest of the day before this consisted of my sitting around and watching TV, and I didn't think that would make for a very exciting photo today...

Day 24

Post a picture of something you wish you could change...



I was trying to think of something deep and reflective for this one, but couldn't come up with one. I'm sure I could, but I wanted to do another blog post NOW because I've gotten behind again. Bummer, too, because I was on a roll there for a little while. Anyway, about the photo: I wish I could change my vocabulary. Specifically, I wish I could expand it. I may be in grad school, but I have to resort to Thesaurus.com constantly when writing papers to make myself sound smarter and more worthy of grad school. I consider myself a good writer; I use nice transitions, know my grammar, make the papers flow well, and know APA style like the back of my hand (almost)...but if it weren't for the invention of the thesaurus, I would be using much simpler vocabulary and my papers would be far less impressive. Also related, there are a lot of words that I've seen written, but am unsure if I've ever heard them out loud, or at least I can't remember. This results in my using them with incorrect pronunciation rather often, and then people laugh at me. Rude! I've heard before that if you read one page of a dictionary every day, you'd be super smart. Maybe I should try that...

Day 23

Post a picture of your favorite book...



The Secret Life of Bees is one of my favorite books. I first read it during my freshman or sophomore year of college after taking a chance and buying it at Barnes & Noble, and loved the inspirational messages in it. It's a story of faith, courage, strength, loss, forgiveness, family, and finding out who you are. I loved how the author related the behavior and struggles of honey bees to life in general and to the main character's journey. I think this is a book that girls and women of all ages can enjoy and relate to in some way or another. So if you haven't read it, go ahead and pick it up at the library sometime! It's a wonderful "alone time with a blanket, tea, and cookies" book :-)

Day 22

Post a picture of something you wish you were better at...



I wish I was better at playing the violin. Okay, I'm pretty decent at playing the violin, I won't lie. But I still wish I was better. I've been playing it since I was 9, and played it consistently through all of high school, so I have the experience and a decent amount of skill. However, I haven't played it much since then. Once in a while, I pick up my violin and play it, and the way it makes me feel makes me wonder why I don't do it more often! And I don't have an answer for that. So I wish I would pick it up more, which would lead to my getting better and better at it!

Day 21

Post a picture of something you wish you could forget...



Something I wish I could forget is my most embarrassing moment, that happened to me in 8th grade. It's not the kind of embarrassing that I look back on and laugh and find funny now. It's not something I brought upon myself, not something silly or stupid I did, like trip and fall, walk out of a bathroom with toilet paper stuck to my shoe, or fart in front of someone. I still look back on it and remember how small I felt, how I wanted so badly at that moment to literally disappear and not show up again until everyone who was there had completely forgotten about it. It's still something I refuse to talk about when someone asks about my most embarrassing moment. I think maybe two people know about it, and I told them soon after the event because I needed to get it off my chest because I felt so distraught about it. You could probably say I'm traumatized by it. So no, I am not going to write what happened on here, but I will say that this is what I definitely, for sure, absolutely want to forget.

Day 20

Post a picture of somewhere you would like to travel...

Oh geez, just one? If you go to my blog post on November 7, 2010 then you could take a look at a handful of the places I'd like to travel. For the sake of the photo challenge, though, I choose...



Kekova, Turkey!

This wasn't even on my blog's list of places I want to travel. Recently I was reading an article of the best Mediterranean islands to visit, and Kekova was one of them. According to the article, it is uninhabited and it is "possible to paddle a kayak over ancient ruins." This seems like a wonderful place if one is seeking a trip with lots of adventure and beauty without being surrounded by thousands of tourists. Maybe for Jake's and my first wedding anniversary/my graduation in 2012... ;)

Day 19

Post a picture and a letter...

I wasn't quite sure what this one meant. A picture of someone and a letter that person wrote to me? A picture of someone and a letter I wrote to them? I suppose it's whatever I want it to mean. So I choose a picture of someone and a letter that I have not yet written to them.

This will be my third post about my new niece, but what can I say? I am head over heels for her!



Dear Little Arwen,

You are so beautiful and I am overjoyed that I got to spend a whole week holding you, playing with you and being delighted over your darling features and adorable facial expressions. For the two weeks after you were born, and before I met you, I was a little nervous about seeing you for the first time. I didn't know how to be an aunt! How was I supposed to react and what was I supposed to say when I held for the first time the first baby of my sister to whom I am incredibly close and whom I have never known as a mother? But all these questions didn't matter anymore when your mama placed you in my arms. It didn't matter if I knew how to be an aunt; what mattered was that I immediately loved you so much and that I was going to be part of your life.

As you grow up, there will be lots of good times, but some hard times too. Sometimes you will want to give up what you're doing and sometimes you'll question who you are and where you should be, but no matter what, just know that there will always be people who will love you. Your mother, who has been an amazing mommy to you from the beginning, your daddy, who takes to having a daughter so naturally, your grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, friends, etc. etc., and me! I promise to be someone you can trust and rely on, and come to when Mom is being too strict ;)

For now, just work on growing bigger and healthier; you will probably look so different when I see you next. Savor this time when you don't have to worry about things. I will see you in May, precious Arwen.

I love you with all my heart,
Auntie Erika