Blah............

This week has been tough...
Not fun...
Emotionally frustrating...
Physically discouraging...

My new class is impossible...I know, I know I say that at the beginning of each class but this class is HARD!!!!!!! (yes I'm whining, can you hear it?) I realize I should not of complained about the other two!

Ever heard of...

Ludovic Muratori
Giambattista Vico
Pietro Giannone
Leopold von Ranke
Herodotus (he that sounds familuar)
Sima Qian
Thucydides
Polybius
Auguste Comte
Benedetto Croce

This is a very short list from the first 9 pages of the 80 I have to read for next week (a drop in the bucket compared to you Jill!)

My assignment this week is to write 500 words on the following

"Imagine you had a time machine that only had two settings on it, BCE and the present.  You step in and are transported back in time. You have only an afternoon to find and talk to any historian of your choice (China or Greece). Who do you seek out and why? what do you ask him (keep it history related)? What do you tell him about the history profession today?"

There are few problems I'm facing
1.  I am completely unfamiliar with this BCE time period other than Bible stories I am unaware of anything else happening BCE!  Can I pick Adam?  Can I ask him how he remembered all the names of the zillion animals he named and did he remember to give Eve flowers and chocolate on VDay?

2.  I hate "creative" writing when dealing with history it seems oxymoronish to me...

3.  With all of the stopping to look up words I've never heard of before (Ethnography, Othering, Diachronistically, to name a very few) and taking notes of people I've never heard of before (see list above) it has taken me 2 hours to read 9 pages!  I wish I were kidding...

4.  So as a result I have lost my flow...

5.  Last week I had flow, I was running, I was doing my Bible study, I was out taking pictures, I was teaching, it was flowing...

6.  This week it was not flowing...


I guess this is the bumpy transition period. 

Thanks for listening...
I feel a tiny bit better...
Mostly because Jeff is cooking me supper :)

Frychik

Night lights

Can you read it?  Sizzle Pie a pizza joint in Portland.  Last night I headed out with some students and fellow photogs to take some night pictures in Ptown.

It was fun.  I have very poor skills when it comes to "low light photography" so I appreciated the opportunity to practice and it was fun as we all looked at each others shots

It was a gorgeous evening.  Chilly, I have learned early on that if you are going to be a photographer you better know how to dress warm and a pair of gloves is ESSENTIAL!

We played with light.  This is a blue flashlight.  The kids had fun writing their names and making designs we also painted this statue

This is one of my favorite shots of the evening :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Frychik

Ahhh the Weekend!

It was a glorious, sunny, uncomplicated weekend...

Friday night was dinner together at the dinning room table followed by some family games.  Conversation, laughter, family time.  It was such a blessing to hit the pause button in the midst of crazy, insane schedules...

Sabbath was sunny and gorgeous and with no plans Jeff and I took off in search of views of Mt. Hood.  I have been craving time for photography but it is hard to find. The kids were completely uninterested and my oldest was in the midst of teenage angst so we headed out...

 I'm fortunate that Jeff loves to be my assistant and it is a fun couples activity to go out and explore our area

 It took awhile to find just the right spot.  We settled on Steamboat landing in Washougal.  The light was perfect!

 The sun was sunny and wind was windy so it was perfect for kite flying at Wittler park

 Teddy came along on our adventure and loved it :)

One thing I was startled to notice was this mountain...I don't think I have ever noticed Mt. Jefferson from Vancouver before.  Maybe its because St. Helens, Hood and even Adams hog the spotlight...

 I posted the above shot in CaptureClarkCounty.com and a fellow photographer informed me that this ladder was used for people as the came up to the dock which is long gone (only the pilings remain)

Saturday night both of the kids had plans and we didn't so we just sat at home and watched movies.  It was quiet and nice :)

Sunday was frosty, and sunny and gorgeous and I grabbed my camera and my hot assistant and headed up to the Ridgfield wildlife refuge to see what we could find..

 We were excited to spot a river otter right off the bat.  He was on Jeff's side of the car so I handed over my camera and he shot away :)

 At this time of year you are not allowed out of your car and since I don't have a lens the size of a canon its difficult to get some close ups.  Thank goodness for a sunroof and a bird that decided to perch over the road.  Jeff also got this shot he is especially proud of the sun glimmer in the birds eye :)

 We headed home and got our first bike ride in of the season :)  Which was awesome! I like riding so much better than running!

And then....
I have been craving french fries and a milk shake for months...
It was sweet :)

I hope you had a great weekend!

Today is the first day of Historiography...I'm missing the weekend already!

Frychik

Hiccup

Do you ever get hiccups?
The kind that lift your insides and turn them inside out?
I used to get them when I was a kid and they hurt!
Nothing would fix them
-teaspoon of sugar
-being scared
-holding my breath

A while back I read somewhere, I don't remember where, that if you offered someone cash if they hiccuped, one more time, they wouldn't be able to do it...

Sunday we were shopping for the boys and Ty got a bad case of hiccups...the kind that are painful
Without telling him what I was doing I looked in my wallet, I had a $10 and a $20...

I was nervous...I didn't want to hand over my cash but I really wanted to know if it would work so I plucked out the $10 and dangling it in front of Ty I said "hiccup one more time"
He couldn't do it!  I breathed a sigh of relief and he just looked stumped...

He really wanted that $10 and couldn't believe it had worked so easily...

Try it if you dare :)

Frychik

Lucky Girl!

The man of my dreams loves me :)
And for that I am truly grateful!











Love this pic!







Bridge pedal





Mission trip to New Orleans



Family trip to DC



Brandenburg Gate - Berlin



Prague!

 

Nerd banquet!





I'm a lucky girl.  I'd marry him again and again!

Frychik



The wild side...

It was a lovely evening...but I had a lot to do...I was out of my comfort zone, I wanted to get all dolled up and lacked the resources...I had the dress and the shoes but I didn't know what to do with myself!

In desperation on Friday afternoon, I called my friend Shannon to come help me with my hair.  I had no clue she was a pro at hair!  She showed up with her bag of hair stuff and went to work.  Trying out various do's which I would then model for my guys getting various feed back...

Earlier when I had been experimenting with my makeup and had much too dark lipstick on, my overly honest 14 year old took one look at me and said "what is up with your face?"  I told him it was "make-up" and he said "you look better without it" He's gonna be someones dream man some day....

Shann and I decided to wear my hair up and she put it into a french roll of which I have a picture on my phone but can't figure out how to get it here. It was pretty with a sparkling barrette. She did a fantastic job and it stayed up all night! I pulled 25 bobby pins out of my head when I got home :)

Finally I was shaved, perfumed, made up, hair done, jeweled and dressed...it was a lot of work!

We headed out to the big city and arrived at the party during the "cocktail hour"  people were already well on their way to "happy hour"  Jeff and I don't drink so we sipped our "virgin" drinks and noticed the volume in the room getting louder :)

It was fun looking at everyone elses dresses and the food was good.  But as the alcohol kept flowing things got more interesting....

Jeff was enjoying seeing his employees in a different light...People were loosening up :)

One group of ladies got up and sang karaoke "baby got back"  have you read those lyrics? Totally X-rated!   Good grief!

I met another nurse who is on a roller derby team.  She is the cutest little thing with a tattoo and can belt out Pat Benetar once given a mic...

Jeff was constantly whispering in my ear about how these girls are always dressed so conservatively at work and how eye opening this evening was for him :)

Jeff and I ended up in a Texas Hold 'em tournament.  He turned out to be a card shark while I was the first one out and resorted to being the lovely girl at his side (think James Bond) while he played ;)

Between the food, Karaoke, dance floor, Texas Hold'em tournament there was plenty going on.  I kept thinking I wish we could have a poker tournament at our banquets that would be fun! :)

Towards the end of the evening Jeff and I came across one of his employees which resulted in an awkward moment.... I don't think she saw me because of my Cinderella shoes I was lagging behind...anyway she saw my husband and I noticed her breasts coming right at him...she threw her arms around him and just when Jeff was pulling back to maintain a healthy boss employee relationship she held on tighter, pulled him closer and kissed him on the cheek, then when he tried to pull away again she held on and said "no now I have to kiss the other side"  I was amused as I stood there and watched this girl maul my husband, who was clearly way outside his comfort zone...

Then she spotted me and said..."oh is this your wife?" "to which I though yes you tramp!" ;) and proceeded to give me the double cheek kiss...

It was supremely awkward and hilarious at the same time.  Jeff told me on the way home that if she remembers the encounter she will be mortified.  He said she is the sweetest and quietest employee and he truly believes she would die of embarrassment. 

I just love sending my man off to work with a bunch of nurses who apparently are just a few drinks away from mauling him... :)

I wished I had my camera but didn't feel it went well with my dress and so we only have a few "posed" pictures of the evening.  It was fun hanging out with my man :)

Frychik

Getting excited!

So I mentioned about a month ago that I had just bought the prettiest dress I've ever had since my wedding dress...
Jeff has a fancy work event this Sat. night and that is why I bought the dress.

I don't really see myself as a "fancy" girl and I'm usually very uncomfortable at "fancy" events.  But I'm so in love with this dress I can't wait to wear it!

I found the shoes just this week.  Have you shopped for heels lately?  Are you 5'10"?  The height of the heels are ridiculous! I was happy to find these they make me only 6'1"  sigh...at least I married a tall man!

 

Speaking of tall man he has rented a tux!  Oh baby!

Now what to do with my hair...any ideas?  And anyone willing to do it for me?  Can I just wear a pony tail and curl the ends....  sigh...this is a lot of work!

I'm excited!

Frychik