Shake it.

We made rattles out of plastic eggs and rice during parenting class for work this week. This little guy was WAY pumped about the new musical instrument he had just created. 

Sitting in Darkness

Someone once told me that to truly appreciate light you have to first sit in darkness. I was bummed when I missed the bus to the gym this morning, but then I turned around and saw mountainous backdrop of the channel barely visible by the sunlight that was not yet in sight. I took a walk down to the water and sat in the dark. Slowly but surely the sky lit up and I just took a moment to appreciate the light and have some much needed reflection and solitude. 

Unlimited Joy

Just because I have been absent from the blogging scene doesn't mean that my days haven't been filled with Joy. I took a hop, skip and a jump (plus 4,000 miles & 3 plane rides, one pictured left) headed to Harrisonburg, VA to celebrate the Love of my beautiful housemate of the Barbie Dream Mansion, Sarah Lynn McKinney and our first "Ken," Luke Saunders. To make up for lost time, I'll share with you some things that brought me Joy on my wonderfully overwhelming adventure to a place I call home...

The wedding was at CrossKeys wine vineyard, right near JMU in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley. It was 4:00 pm and 75 degrees with beautiful sunshine and a pleasant breeze. 

Unlimited Joy...literally. My dream come true. 

Also a dream come true. 

I kept spinning in circles seeing 360 degrees beautiful people that I love so much all in one place and my smile was as just as big as these ones are. Maybe even bigger. 

Sunset over the Blue Ridge mountains during cocktail hour.

The courtyard all lit up while we were "walking on broken glass" inside lighting up the dance floor. 

We will always live the dream. 

Oat Eaters Anonymous

Our names are Nicole Ferraro & Cathleen Balantic and we have a problem.

Pictured left is the remains of the oats that we have consumed in less than 6 weeks (we actually threw some containers away). Yikes. Hey, at least they're heart healthy!

Happy Alaska Day!

Everyone STOP and take the day off for Alaska Day! Today is an official state holiday celebrating the formal transfer of the territory of Alaska from Russia to the US that occurred on October 18th, 1867.

Washable Paint=GREAT Invention

I got to finger paint with a 2 year old at work. We were talking about toddler independence in a parenting class and put it into action what we learned with the craft portion of the event. It had been WAY too long since I had taken part in this fun, liberating and slightly messy activity. I love my job.

Extra! Extra!

Made it in the Juneau Empire today. Someone told me that it would be no more than a month before I was in the newspaper or on the radio. Common occurrence around here. They were right on target. I love the small-town feel of this place.