How does your garden grow....

Brant and I were fortunate enough to get some veggie plants from our friends next door. I had been talking about starting our own little garden since we don't buy a lot of veggies (thank Brant for that one). He seems to be more enthusiastic about eatting FRESH vegetables.

So far we have:

3 green onion plants, 1 bell pepper plant (not sure if its green, yellow, or what) and

1 tomato plant. It's HUGE!!!

Here is a shot of the flowers. I can't wait!! I LOVE fresh tomatoes!

These are the flowers I got for my birthday from Brant's Mom and sisters. Brant told them I wanted to have some flowers to take care of because it was something I always did with my Mom during the summer. She and I would find new creative ways to landscape the yard. It was our "thing". The biggest start was when we landscaped around the two evergreen trees in the front yard. we planted some roses and a juniper-type looking tree (I'll be darned if I can't remember what it's called) in the center. If you were to look down at it, it would look wavy, instead of being in a straight line. Doesn't make much sense to anyone but me, oh well.

Hopefully I can keep everything alive!! Hopefully my green thumb makes itself known.

Some pictures I found.....

I was going through a lot of my pictures, putting them in my scrapbook pile or putting them into photo albums, and I found the pictures from my black belt test on April 18, 2009. I was really excited to find them because I have been wanting to put them in my scrapbook, as well as enlarge one with Master Hall (my teachers' teacher). I scanned them in and I picked out a few of my favorites.

I'm lining up my boards here.Here I am in the process of breaking them. I had to break 8 boards in 10 seconds. I managed to break them all in about 14 because my last break was a little difficult. It was a 360 degree jump back kick. I realize that only means something to me, but its a neat kick.

Here, Jessica and I are sparring. It's like a play-fight without full-on contact. It takes a lot of control to attack without making contact. Light contact is acceptable.

Here I am during a poomse

(a fighting dance trainees practiced to learn how to combine techniques)

My brother Matt, Me, Kathy, (behind her) Master Hall, Lance, and Jessica

Here I am shaking hands with Kathy (My teacher)

Here I am receiving my black belt certificate from Master Hall

And last but not least, I am receiving my black belt, Yahoo!

The Long Awaited Graduation Pictures

Here are some pictures from my graduation, May 2, 2009. I had to get some good scans because I never got digital copies from my mom. Enjoy!

JoAnn Wilson and I, as I receive my degree (actually its just the cover for it, they mail the real thing out later, and I have yet to receive it) I finally earned by Bachelor of Science degree in Interior Design!!

Darrin Brooks, Me and Steven Mansfield. Two of my professors
(Don't tell, but Steve is my favorite)

My Hubby and I afterwards (Isn't he cute!?)

Steve and I, just before my name was announced

And here I am walking to my seat before the ceremony began. The white sash is the Stole of Gratitude. It's given by the graduate to the person they feel helped them the most throughout their education. I gave mine to my mom, but she insisted I keep it with my graduation cap and everything.

The lights were REALLY yellow, so no, I did not color my hair or anything. It was great having my and Brant's families there to support me and celebrate with me.

Afterwards we went to Olive Garden to have a nice lunch. There are two parts to the actualy graduation ceremony. The first is a general for all the colleges, and they award honored staff and dignitaries, etc, etc. The Second part is when each college separates for their own ceremony. Luckily, my college (Humanities, Art and Social Science - H.A.S.S) was in that same building and started directly after the first portion. However, they were both long enough that EVERYone was really hungry. I have now been graduated just over 2 months. It's been great. the job market is awful, so I'm staying at Staples. It doesn't pay as much as I would like, but every little bit helps.

Thank you to everyone who came to support me, to those who sent me cards because of the distance, and those who wrote to me.