International Women's Day

Did you know yesterday was International Women's Day? Did you have a celebration? Or reflect on all the amazing women in your life? I must admit, I had never heard of the occasion until yesterday. But now that I know about it, I hope to have an annual celebration.

Last night I went to a Girl's Night Out celebration. It was so great. Our evening started with an hour of yoga, followed by an assortment of delicious salads, soups, and breads. While we ate chocolate mousse for desert we soaked our feet in a salt bath. It was heaven!

In honor of International Women's Day we talked about the many women we admire and qualities we would like to emulate. Who are some the women you admire? Why? What does it mean to be a woman? I love being a mother, but isn't it great to think of womanhood apart from motherhood? Sometimes it is difficult to separate the two, especially after you become a mother, but I think it is important to remember what makes us - us! Do we take time to remember who we are as people - our likes, our talents, our goals, our dreams? Or do we let ourselves become so consumed and overwhelmed with dirty diapers, dishes to wash, laundry to be done, food to be prepared, etc that we get lost in our lives?

To be a woman is such an incredible thing! We have so much strength, goodness, and power inside us.

Here are three woman that have greatly impacted my life and why:

1. My mom - for giving birth to me (which wasn't easy), for raising me (which wasn't easy either), teaching me, instilling in me a love of learning and education, for her patience, faith, and foresight during the teenage years, for all her sacrifices, and for the good woman that she is.

2. My aunt Gayle - for being such a strength and example to me at such a critical time in my life (the awful transition from being a teenager to becoming an adult); for knowing just what to say, and when to not say anything at all; for giving me advice, and then backing away while I made my own decisions.

3. Professor Giralt - for showing me that a woman can have a family and reach her educational/career goals while still maintaining balance; for encouraging me to reach outside my comfort zone and to stretch my goals. One day soon I hope to put into practice the things I learned from her, and return to school.

E is for Excellent!

A couple weeks ago, I was thrilled to find out that my friend Sonja, over at The Wonder Years, had passed this award on to me! I am always amazed that anyone besides my mom reads, and enjoys reading, my blog. Thanks Sonja, for the kind words. I'm embarrassed that it has taken me this long to accept the award:(

I am supposed to pass the award on to three other bloggers. Although there are so many that I read and enjoy, and so many bloggers that I truly admire, today I want to acknowledge the following blogs:

1. Dream BigThis blog is about cute, little, 2 year old Chelsea who has cancer, and her family. I admire Chelsea's mom for sharing her experiences - the joys, the sorrows, the ups, and the downs, with anyone who reads her blog. It reminds me hug Antalya a little tighter, and to be grateful for each day I am blessed to have her in my life. Chelsea is always in our prayers!

2. Brady's Bunch Brady's mom is someone that I greatly admire. She is a member in our local Down syndrome organization, and is such a support and help for all of us moms. I love reading her posts each Sunday about gratitude. It always helps me reflect on all the blessings I received the previous week.

3. Praying for Parker I love how Parker's mom is so honest and candid on her blog. Somehow in the midst of caring for her medically-fragile little boy, and the rest of her family, she finds the time to write about her daily adventures and post the greatest pics of cute little Parker.

Wordless Wednesday

Black Bean Soup

My mom just gave me this recipe. It is so easy and delicious!

2 can black beans (drained)
1 can chicken broth (about 2 cups)
1 cup salsa

Simmer in pot about 15 minutes. Put half of the soup in the blender until smooth, then return to the remaining soup in pot. Stir and serve.

Top with: sour cream, cheese, avocado, limes, tortilla chips

Oats and Pigtails

I love oatmeal! It's a love passed on to me by my mom. Winter, spring, summer, fall - my favorite breakfast is a bowl of hot oatmeal. I love the simplicity of it. I boil the water, add the oats (old fashioned oats - of course, none of the instant stuff), as I stir I watch as a handful of dried oats, magically transforms into a bowl of hot, delicious cereal. Add a little brown sugar, fruit, and cover with soy milk. Just talking about it would make my mouth water, except that I just finished eating my bowl for the day :) I cannot comprehend why anyone would not like oatmeal. For months I have been telling myself that Antalya loves oatmeal as much as I do - that it was the only thing she would eat for breakfast - that if she didn't start her day with oatmeal, how would she possibly get all the nutrients she needs during the day? I knew all along that she hated oatmeal. In fact as soon as the texture touches her tongue, she quickly spits it all out - occasionally landing in my face. I would ignore it and insist that she REALLY wants to be eating it. I tried many different ways, oatmeal with yogurt, oatmeal with cold cereal, instant, flavored oatmeal, oatmeal with lots of sugar, balls of oatmeal that she could pick up and feed herself. But the truth of the matter was that she did not like oatmeal! It didn't matter how I tried to deceive her or alter it's form, she just didn't like it. This past week I finally resigned myself to the fact that I am the only one in this house who likes to eat oatmeal. It was a great, liberating moment! Now when I sit down with my bowl of oatmeal in the morning, it is just me! No worries about making Antalya eat it, no thoughts of having to share, just me and my breakfast! (FYI Antalya now enjoys a piece of nine grain toast with her morning fruit. She loves it! She even asked for more!)
I'm still waiting for day when Antalya has enough hair for two little pigtails. In the mean time, she sure has one cute pigtail right on top!

Tagged Again

I've been tagged by Jill - so here are 7 things you might not know about me.

1. When I grow up I want to be a professor.

2. I am named after my grandma on my mom's side. I never met her, but have heard lots of stories about her.

3. I want to have lots of kids. Give birth to some, and adopt some.

4. In high school I really loved to sculpt. My senior year I sculpted a life-sized, ceramic, nude female for a state competition. My parents have been nice enough to keep the sculpture at their house all these years.

5. I hate to talk on the phone. I've never been good at small chat. I usually only use the phone when I have to.

6. When I was born, I was brought home in a Christmas stocking (I think it was on Christmas Eve, I forget for sure).

7. I LOVE RICE!!! According to me, no meal is quite complete without it. I like any kind of rice - white, brown, wild, long grain, short grain, medium grain, doesn't matter; and I like it cooked any way possible - plain, rice pudding, pilaf, rice milk, etc. Lately my preferred type of rice is short grain brown rice.

I'm tagging Christine, Lisa, Debbie, and Becky

16 Months

I haven't posted a general update on Antalya for awhile - so here goes. She is now 16 months old and is SO busy! She is always doing something, and has a hard time sitting still longer than about two minutes. She can cruise along furniture and is getting close to being able to stand without support (but she refuses to even consider it). The last two months we have been working really hard at signing. She can now sign "more", "eat", and "all done". It is so fun to see her begin to communicate and express herself. She is developing quite the independent personality. If I won't let her do something by herself, then she refuses to allow me to do it - such as eating, brushing her teeth, drinking from a cup, taking her fluoride drops, talking on the phone, etc. Antalya loves playing the drums, chasing our dog Digo, pushing buttons, reading books (by herself, of course), eating paper, and going for walks outside. She also loves it when we have visitors come over. She is so social.


Today she got to play with Baby Graham (my friends baby). She loved it! I was happy that she only pulled his hair twice :) Sorry Graham!

Quick Tour of States

As promised - here is an update of the last few weeks. I flew to New York two weeks ago. It was so great having five hours on the plane all to myself. It was so difficult to decide whether to read a book, take a nap, or watch TV, so I did a little of them all. I love going to New York because two of my best friends live in Manhattan. We had a baking night together, and just had fun hanging out. The next day my friend Caroline from Santiago, Chile flew to New York. This was going to be her first visit to the states. We then had 48 hours to see the city. We saw "The Color Purple" on Broadway, took the ferry to the statue of Liberty, rode to the top of the Empire State Building, took a bicycle tour of Central Park, got stuck in a blizzard, and saw a few more sites. It was a great time, but OH SO COLD!!!

After the 48 hours were up we hopped on another plane and headed to Memphis, TN - Home to the King of Rock 'n Roll. This time we had even less than two days to see the sites. We stayed with my cousin and her family. It was so great to see her and meet her two cute kids! Our first site-seeing stop was Sun Studio Records. This is the studio were many greats recorded their first albums, including BB King, Elvis, and Johnny Cash. If you ever go to Memphis, be sure not to miss this one. It was a fantastic tour! After a good southern lunch on Beale Street (birth place of the blues) we headed to Graceland - Elvis' home. After paying a small fortune to get in, we were able to tour his mansion, the grounds, his two airplanes, his car collection, and his collection of jumpsuits (the jumpsuits were my favorite). I must admit, I've never been an Elvis fan; but by the time we left Graceland, I think a new fan had been born.

We returned to Utah for a couple days of sightseeing in Salt Lake. Then we hopped in the car for a short roadtrip. We went to St George, Las Vegas, and Zion National Park. Caroline is know spending a couple days in San Francisco. When she returns tomorrow we will have one more week to do the rest of the things on our lists; including a Utah Jazz basketball game, skiing, Olympic Park, museums, and some shopping. I hope we can all keep our energy up for the last week of our marathon month of traveling.

NEW YORK





GRACELAND



MEMPHIS

SUN STUDIO RECORDS, MEMPHIS

New York Here I Come

After two days and two very sleepless nights with a sick little girl, Mommy gets a break! I'm off to New York and Memphis for six days with some girl friends. I'm a little anxious - I've never been away from Antalya for the night and I've only been away from Jason once before. I hope all goes well for all of us. I'll post some pics later next week. P.S. Antalya is doing much better. I think by tomorrow she'll be back to herself.

I've Been Tagged...

Well, it's taken me awhile to post this, but here it is Brit! This tag is all about my hubby. I think he's the greatest :)
What is his name? Jason

How long have you been together? Three years

How long did you date? We meet on a blind date the end of Sept. On our third date we both agreed that we had a lot going on in our lives and weren't in any hurry, so it would be best to "take things slow and just see what happened." We were married the end of Dec (I'll do the math for you - three months and three days from the day we met!) We both agree that it's a good thing we took it slow. If we hadn't - who knows what would have happened!

Who eats more? It depends on what it is. If it's a big plate of rice and curry than I definitely eat more! If it's anything else, Jason usually eats more.

Who said "I love you" first? I did. But if I remember right, Jason said it too that same night.

Who is taller? Jason by several inches.

Who is smarter? I think it depends on what it is. We both have BA degrees. If it's regarding the middle east or anything in Hebrew - Jason wins. If it has anything to do with Spanish Literature I take the cake.

Who does the laundry? I do. I don't mind it. Sometimes Jason helps me put it away.

Who does the dishes? I do them during the day. Jason cleans up after dinner while I get Antalya ready for bed.

Who sleeps on the right? Jason

Who pays the bills? The are all on auto pay so that we don't have to worry about them.

Who mows the lawn? Usually Jason. He doesn't like it if I beat him to it.

Who cooks dinner? I usually do. Occasionally I talk Jason into making his lentil curry for me. It is my favorite!

Who drives when you are together? Whoever wants to.

Who is more stubborn? We both are.

Who kissed who first? I think Jason kissed me, but that was only after I had unsuccessfully tried to kiss him :)

Who asked who out first? Blind date

Who proposed? We mutually decided we were getting together. I thought it was a done deal, and we weren't going to have any official proposal, but Jason proved me wrong. He proposed to me in the Las Vegas temple during a road-trip we took with some friends. The ring he gave me was one he carved out of deer antler. It was perfect!

Who has more siblings? I have four, Jason has ten.

I'm tagging anyone that wants to reply!