Day 17: someone I want to switch my life with for 1 day

This will come as no surprise (or a complete shock?) to people who know me well, I would love to switch my life for 1 day with.... MaryJane Butters.

Don't know who she is? She is not a celebrity, not a singer, not an actress, and not a political figure. She is an organic farmer who also publishes a magazine.

Are you laughing yet? Well, it is my life-long dream and a secret wish one day to own a small organic farm. Yes, you read it right. You can stop rubbing your eyes in disbelief. It is true.

I read her articles in a sunday newspaper every week and I'm just amazed at her life. She often describes her day at a farm and I want more than anything to experience that for myself. She also gives lots of practical advice on how to make our lives simpler, more natural, healthier, and free of chemicals/additives/colorings/crap that our life is filled with. I SO want to be her some days!

In our modern world where organic is glorified, put on a pedestal, and made (financially) unavailable to most average families, MaryJane puts it all in perspective and makes suggestions on how to improve the world we live in, a small change at a time. I'm not a granola type or an organic junky. But I do want my kids to grow in a chemical-free (or minimized) environment. I want them to enjoy the simple tastes and flavors of real food that I know origins of and can actually identify the ingredients. I also want to be able to make life simpler. I believe myself to be a minimalist avoiding clutter and unnecessary "decorations". I also want our diet to become sort of "minimalist", with the minimal processing and ingredients required to make food taste delicious.

This is why I would love to live 1 day of my life in MaryJane's shoes, so I could learn how to make all these things possible, without compromising certain comforts and especially flavors of food we eat.

Call me crazy but this is what I would like, if the opportunity came along :)

http://www.maryjanesfarm.org/SimpleSolutions/

Day 16: some more random pictures

Today was supposed to be "another picture of yourself". Well, it's boring. I have more pictures to post on here that are more interesting to look at :)

I'm very pleased how Alex and Nicholas play together in peace now. Alex even lets his brother play with most of his cars!
Nicholas found a new favorite activity... And Alex is happy to play it with him :)
Last week our neighbors were making their world famous spider web in the front yard and Alex and his best friend Nick went to help out.
Nicholas couldn't participate yet. Next year, buddy!
I love it how our neighbors go all out for every holiday!

Alex got caught in the web somewhere...
Alex and Nick played football all day. I think that despite my protest, I have a budding football player :)

Ok, here is a picture of me. Our "weed" leaves are changing colors and they are gorgeous!
The game of football continued beyond imaginable...
When the referee joined them it became more heated :)
Nicholas must have been tired, he's usually very smiley.
We've started to put Nicholas on the toilet every time before his bath. He's had lots of success!!!
Alex is wearing Dave's referee socks for his "crazy socks" day at school during the Red Ribbon week.
Nicholas is so smart, he figured out how his toys work and he's very content to play by himself.
Calling mama at work :)
Walking everywhere!
Last friday we went to Red Butte Garden's "Garden after dark" event with some friends, it was fun for the kids!
Spooky alley.
Our friends Irina, Mike, and Zoya. And my mom with Nicholas :)
Alex made one of those candles, made a wish, and put it in the pond to float!
It got pretty cold toward the end.
Nicholas is the king of crawling. The funny thing is that Alex never learned the proper crawl: he did the military crawl. Nicholas is a true pro!
My boys watching a soccer game on a sunday morning. Ahhhhhhh :))))

Day 15: Ipod

Unfortunately, I can't locate my Ipod... I have no idea where it can be. Since I haven't been using it for months and the last person who saw it was Alex, yeah you can do the math... Alex used to play on it all the time and one day he couldn't find it. He was upset and was asking me to help him find it. All I could say was I had no idea where it is.

Let the search begin...

Day 14: a picture of my family

This is the latest we have. From our latest hike in the mountains. It's missing a few family members: my mom, Sandy Cheeks, and Bessie :)

Day 13: a letter to someone who hurt me

Well, let's see.... It's pretty hard to really hurt me. I have an amazing family and great friends... When someone tries to hurt me, I can explode pretty easily but calm down fast. I don't hold grudges (it's true!) mainly because I don't remember bad things.

I have an amazing memory but for some reason my mind erases bad events fast and I sometimes find myself wondering why or under what circumstances I got in a fight with someone. In Russian it's called не злопамятная.

Having said all that, I'm pretty mad at Verizon right now. We've fallen for their (false) advertisement of amazing service and now suffering the consequences. We still can't get them to allow us to receive text messages from Russia. Why? Don't even ask me. That's a whole other issue to discuss. We can send messages to Russia, we can call and receive calls from Russia but for whatever odd reason we cannot receive them from Russia. This seemingly simple and insignificant problem has caused me a lot of my nerve cells, mainly because my mom really freaks out about the fact that she can't receive texts from Russia and she takes her frustration out on.... you guessed it... ME.

Well, Verizon, watch out! We will call you regularly and bug you to death until you either: a) fix the problem, or b) let us cancel the account penalty-free and switch to the beloved T-Mobile...

The End.

Day 12: why do I have a blog?

I found out about blogs..... let's see... 3 years ago? Hmmm, having a hard time remembering who inspired me back then. I think it was my friend Carine. I'm pretty sure that her blog was the first I ever read. Carine, is that right? She was also the one to introduce me to FB (even though I resisted for a long time), so Carine wins the award for being the most persuasive :)))

Why did I start a blog? Originally, it was because blogging was something new and I liked the idea of putting my pictures and the stories together in one place. I tried it a few times and felt the creative juices flowing. It all snowballed from there :)

Now the main reason for blogging is to preserve the memories that I have. Blogging replaces journaling for me. I really want my kids to be able to read about their childhood when they grow up. I want them to see the pictures, the progression, the growth, and to remember all the precious moments we've spent together as a family.

Day 11: another picture with my friends

Stay tuned! I'm going out with my ex-work girlfriends tomorrow and we'll be sure to take some P-H-O-T-O-S.

Day 10: about the music...

So this day was supposed to be about music that I listen to when I'm sad, happy, mad, etc. Well, the honest truth is as follows:

1. I don't listen to music at home. When I'm sad- I garden. When I'm happy- I play with my kids or take them places. When I'm mad- I exercise.

2. I only listen to music while driving the car and it's always either FM 97.1, FM 99.5 or FM 107.9. It used to be 101.9 when they had the Chunga show. I used to listen to them every morning on my drive to work or school. They would crack me up daily, also would occasionally make me very mad (like that one time when Chunga made fun of Russians). I now listen to the 97.1 morning show, which is a white-trash equivalent of the Chunga show. But I really have no choice. Well, except NPR radio which is sometimes interesting but mostly puts me to sleep, and it's not a good thing when you're behind the wheel...

3. I do own an Ipod but frankly, almost never use it anymore :( It's mostly for Alex to play games on...

Am I not a musical person???? I'm starting to wonder that too... When I'm home, I don't have time to listen to music because I'm always busy with something else. When I'm outside, I like to listen to the sounds of nature and I can't stand being outside and having my ears plugged up with something. I really do want to hear the wind in the trees, the birds singing, the bees buzzing around my garden, car breaks screeching, and people yelling. Call me a dork if you wish but that's the honest truth...

WAIT! I remembered!!! I do like to listen to music when I'm cleaning the house! Yeah, that's right! And it's usually something upbeat: Gwen Stefani, Linkin Park, One Republic, The Killers, Bon Jovi, and such.

So... there!

Day 9: something I'm proud of in the last few days

Yesterday we decided to take a family hike at Donut Falls. It's been many years since Dave and I came on that hike and we've never been as a family. I wasn't sure how Alex would tolerate it as sometimes he doesn't like to walk long distances. Amazingly, he did very well and didn't complain even once!

Nicholas is another story :) He started out in a backpack carried by Dave.

But that didn't last long because he was missing his mama too much. So we had to switch and I became 20 lbs heavier. Nicholas was in 7th Heaven playing with my hair and cooing behind my back. I didn't think I would make it all the way up...
Along the way we found a few picture-worthy spots :)

The fall colors were amazing, but most of all, the SMELL of fall was unbelievable. A mixture of pine trees, dried wet grass, aspen leaves, and wet soil. I couldn't get enough of that smell into my lungs.

On the way up we got a little lost and off course. We ended up hiking up some little travelled trail that led us through bushes and broken tree branches. We realized we took a wrong turn somewhere.
Ok, back on course now :)
We made it!
Dave was the brave one and climbed all the way up to the donut falls.
The water drops into a "donut" or a cave as Dave put it.
This is us down below taken by Dave at the top of the Donut falls.
It was time to go back.
Nicholas behaved well in the backpack the rest of the way :)



It was a great family outing! We all enjoyed it very much! I was mostly proud of Alex for making it all the way up and never complaining! I was also proud of Nicholas for sitting behind my back very contently. For the exception of him pulling on my hair the whole way... But that's nothing new :)

Day 8: short term goals for this month

The list is never-ending but I guess I can break it up into more manageable groups:

1. Professional goal- finish the process of credentialing and (hopefully) start the transition.

2. Personal goal- continue some sort of exercise maintenance program and find an alternative to biking outdoors once it gets too cold.

3. Creative goal- finish putting all the pictures into a (gasp) scrapbook. Yes, I am scrapbooking. Nothing too elaborate but still. It all started when I scored some free kindergarten stickers and had an idea. It all snowballed from there. Now I've done around 10 pages of both Alex's and Nicholas's pictures. So far so good and Alex really loves helping me :)

4. Cooking goal- use up the abundance of tomatoes that we have in our yard. Sometimes I feel like I'm drowning in them but I still like them :)

5. Housekeeping goal- to finally finish cleaning my piles and stacks of mail, papers, and other random things. I also want to start going through some drawers and get them organized and cleaned. O, and hire a cleaning lady (or two) to give me a much needed hand at cleaning.

6. Gardening goal- finish fall cleaning and get my garden ready for winter (yes, I am starting to realize that winter is much closer than it seems right now).

7. Health goal- stay away from illnesses, create a weekly menu of healthy meals, and go for more walks as a family.

Day 7: a picture of someone who has the biggest impact on me

These two little people changed me forever!

Day 6: favorite super hero and why

Super hero? Seriously? I don't have one... do I?

I would have to put something cheesy on here, but it's true. My favorite super hero is my husband. He's going to laugh about it but I truly believe that he is. From the day that we met to the present day I have admired Dave as a person, as a husband, later as a father, and as a worker.

He is an excellent husband, very attentive, likes to surprise me, knows what makes me happy, and he keeps our marriage exciting.

He is the best father I've ever known. He loves his boys, plays with them, teaches them, reads with them, takes them on walks and other activities. He gets up with the baby at night when needed and he changes his diaper every morning before bringing him to me to nurse. He never complains about the "baby duty" which makes me admire him even more. He's great with Alex also. He can be strict when needed and very soft with him at other times. I seriously can't imagine anybody being a better father!

Dave is a great person! He's funny, very smart, fit, compassionate (as much as a man can be), adventurous, and kind. He can always make me laugh no matter what. He is a great listener and problem-solver.

He is a great worker, the one a company is lucky to have. He's very loyal, innovative, excellent leader, honest, and always tries to improve things at work to make them easier and more logical. He is very smart and it makes him an invaluable worker. And he is hard-working.

I could go and on but Nicholas needs some attention right now :) But I think all the listed qualities qualify Dave as a super hero.

Well, he is MY super hero and that's what the topic was about anyway.

I love you, Dave!

Day 5: pictures of somewhere I've been to

Of all places we've travelled to (and there are many) I chose to dedicate this post to Maui, Hawaii. This is by far my favorite place to be! In particular, Napili Point resort on the North-West side of Maui. This is not your typical island resort that you expect to see. It is more like home. All of the condo units in the resort have the ocean view. It is quiet and peaceful, without the buzz of the resort life. I love it!

Sunset at Napili Point: a view I can never get tired of.

That sail looks so mysterious out there!
This is probably my favorite picture of myself ever. This is exactly what I imagine "happy life" to be.
A nice view of the Kaanapali beach.
Sunset at the Napili Bay.
Turtle Cove at the Napili Bay.
The jungle. Need I say more? :)
This is the view we would wake up to every morning while at Napili Point. That rainbow says it all: paradise :)
Napili Beach is the best beach on Maui, by far!
Walking to the dinner on the beach :)
Napili Point grounds.
Sunrise at the top of Haleakala (10,000 feet above the sea level).
Somewhere in Lahaina.
This post made me miss Maui even more. Time to start planning!