Kayaking in La Jolla

The Thursday we were in San Diego we headed to La Jolla to go kayaking in the ocean. It was an incredible adventure — exciting, peaceful, educational and shockingly beautiful! I'm so glad we purchased a water proof camera for the experience. It was well worth it to have the memories captured!

It was a little scary to kayak out over the surf and admittedly it took me a long time to get use to the rockiness of being in a kayak — especially a double kayak!  

Nasty emails and a resolve to be kind

I recently received an email that reduced me to tears. I'm not one to take things others say too personally, but after a lot of blood, sweat and tears — as well as a whole lot of self-doubt — I don't take it very well when I get a very condescending, nasty email.

I won't get in to what it said. Because it doesn't matter. Receiving nasty emails like this is nothing new for my line of work, but this one gave me a new resolve: For every nasty email I receive I will give a happy, positive, uplifting comment or compliment to a perfect stranger either through person, email or mail.

And that's that.

Always,

Monterey 2012, part two

On day three in Monterey, we visited the Carmel Mission then headed to the Monarch butterfly sanctuary in Pacific Grove. The butterflies were just warming up when we arrived. I was amazed at how difficult they were to see from the ground. The butterflies spend the night clumped up together high in the eucalyptus trees — they look like leaves. Pretty clever disguise if you ask me!

Monterey 2012

For Christmas we headed to California to enjoy the holiday with my family. After all the gifts were opened we — my parents, two brothers Tyler and Austin, and me and Nathaniel — loaded up the car and headed to Monterey. The day after Christmas my cousin Kourtney, and her husband, Alden, met up with us and we headed to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

The aquarium was awe-inspiring — despite the crowds!

Lunch with Betty

Tuesday afternoon I called a potential source to see if she'd mind visiting with me for an upcoming story. I was surprised when she not only agreed to chat, but invited me over to her house for a home cooked lunch the next day. She ended the conversation by calling me "honey."

When Betty answered the door Wednesday afternoon, I was greeted by a big smile and firm hug. Tall, slender, a head piled high with glistening white hair, Betty is the picture of grace at 82 years old. She ushered me into her kitchen where she puttered back and forth — popping buns into the oven, breaking whole wheat noodles in half to boil on the stove, pulling honey out of the pantry — as she told me about her late husband and a marriage that began at the tender age of 16.

I smiled when she told me how young they were. They helped raise each other, she said, and had their first baby when they were "almost 20." I told her people thought I was young when I got married — 10 days short of 21, but her story made me look like an old maid.

She laughed.

"21 is quite respectable, Hannah," she said.

2012 Super Bowl

Don't ask me what happened during this year's Super Bowl. This is what I was up to:

It's okay, though...Nathaniel joined me, eventually:

2011: Highlights

2011 has been a crazy year, and I honestly cannot believe it's over already. What's even crazier to me is: I have no idea what 2012 will bring. Since I can't predict the future, let's look at where 2011 took me...

January:

We took a road-trip to California that included home-made candies, Disneyland, a dueling piano bar and reminiscing.

I started my last semester of college, part of which was spent as an intern at the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.

Then I got this crazy idea I should train for a triathlon, which was awesome -- at least for awhile, until health issues and stress got in the way.

I took photos of my pregnant sister-in-law, Becky, in anticipation of the baby boy she would soon deliver.

Simple Christmas

This Christmas was simple and perfect. We had no plans besides the two of us and our apartment. We slept in, we cooked breakfast, we danced to Frank Sinatra Christmas in the kitchen, went to church, cooked dinner and then played games at a friend's house.

Simple. Peaceful. And clear-full of the Christmas Spirit of generosity, gratitude and joy.

 Our dinner. Mashed potatoes, giant dinner roles, breaded pork chops and steamed asparagus. Delicious.

 Merry Christmas!

Always,

I love to laugh

I looked in the mirror today, smiled at myself and saw a hint of laugh lines.

They didn't make me frown.

Laugh lines, however faint, make me feel beautiful -- successful, even.

I hope they are my deepest wrinkles someday.

Always,

Family

Turkey Day means we sit around and think about all the awesome things we're thankful for. I won't get mushy on you though...I'll just make you smile:

Isn't my nephew the cutest?

I'm thankful for my family. Blood family, adopted family, married-to family, and future family. They make my lil' heart go pitter-patter.

What are you thankful for?

Always,

On Perfectionism

I'm not perfect, but sometimes I think I have to be. I put on a pretty good face for those around me: I'm formally educated, I wear high heels and suck in my gut, I curl my hair and wear makeup, and I'm generally pretty happy. But I don't have a full-time job, my body hurts a lot, I have some weight I need to lose, I've had grey hair since I was a kid, and I'm easily frustrated with the rate in which I am progressing personally and professionally.

I sense I'm not alone.

The polished me. The in-a-robe-before-bed me...not so perfect.

Old Books Find a Home

We were exploring the Goodwill in Norman, OK, the other day, and I had to stop to run my fingers over the shelves of forgotten and unwanted books. I came across quite a few beauties I had to resist, but some...I just couldn't. All I'm sayin' is: they totally needed a home.

When I opened up the Black Stallion, I was a little sad to see that Jill didn't care if Grandma and Grandpa Jackson gave her the book back in '55. But then I was even more sad that the g-rents didn't know how to spell their own names. Maybe they were the ones that needed to keep the book? I flipped through the pages and loved the bold, graphic illustrations.

10 Years

My father sat leaning forward on the couch, his eyes were glued to the television as he slowly lifted cereal to his mouth from the bowl that hovered underneath his mouth.

"Come here," he said during a pause of eating.

Wrapped in a towel I walked forward, curious to see what he was so intently looking at.

And then I saw it. The news. The airliner that hit the World Trade Centers.

"What is that? What's happening?" I asked.

I don't remember what my dad told me, but it must have been something along the lines of "terrorists," "New York City," and "the World Trade Center."

All my seventh grade teachers that day talked to us about what was happening. They even put the TV on and played the news. In between classes my friends and I spoke in hush tones about what was happening on the other side of the country -- who knew someone who knew someone who might live in New York.

Febreze and Futons

Remember that one time where I didn't have a kitchen table and I'm dumb enough to eat on the floor and then roll around on that same floor I'm sitting on to eat my food? That one ketchup incident? Oh, you don't?! Yeah, me neither.

Theoretically speaking, if someone was dumb enough to eat on the floor and then proceed to roll in their left over dinner, they'd probably be pretty excited to find a perfectly usable futon on the side of the road. Theoretically speaking, of course.

We were driving home from church, and were so excited that Nathaniel just jumped out of the car and carried it home right then and there. No need to change clothes!

And now, my friends, we have a thoroughly Febrezed futon to sit on. Pure bliss, I say. God bless college towns.

Always,

Stressed Spelled Backwards

While Nathaniel and I sat in the Colorado airport last Tuesday night after the first leg of our trip back to California for Kourtney's wedding, we started visiting with the other travelers in the terminal. We didn't expect that our casual visiting would soon lead to a small adventure.

Cookie from our hotel. Yum.

Lucky Coin

Sometimes lucky coins work, and sometimes they don't work until later.

So I didn't get that job I really wanted. I thought the interview went swimmingly, but I suppose you never really know what someone is looking for. When I left the interview I felt pretty good about it, I didn't stumble over myself nearly as much as I could have considering I had three people staring, smiling, and nodding at me as they furiously scribbled down who-knows-what kind of notes. I even thought I answered all the questions thoroughly, but hey -- if I'm not the one, I'm not the one.

A few days before my interview my dad told me a story about my great-great-grandmother, Valli Walker. When she was a little girl Valli and her family trekked across the country, through Oklahoma and on to Texas. As the around 8-year-old Valli was walking through the then Cherokee territory, she glanced down and saw something shiny. Valli had found a $20 gold coin. Her father, instead of claiming it as his own, told Valli it was her lucky coin and she should never, ever spend it.

The tiny home in West Texas where Valli would eventually live as an adult. My grandma lived here with Valli when she was a little girl, while her mother went to California to pick fruit. 

Answers

My legs hesitated to stretch to their full height as I stepped out of my car, the humid heat embracing me tightly, after six hours in my stale car air conditioning on Saturday.

During my drive.

Simple Memories

Sometimes life's moments can't be properly described with words. And I love words, so that's saying a lot. Today's sentimentality called for a trip down memory lane -- in a way that only photographs can properly describe.

My love, the first summer we started dating.

Potatoes, Peas and All Things Green

At the end of our groceries and the end of our paycheck, I made us some dinner the other day that was both cheap and simple: mashed potatoes, frozen peas and chicken nuggets. This is a typical meal for us. Half because it's what we can afford and half because it's what's easiest. As I swirled my lemon-pepper potatoes in with my sweet peas, I thought about how someday I would be able to afford to cook us more elaborate meals.

Dinner.

Trip to Outerspace

I babysat some boys a few days ago who have some of the most brilliant imaginations.

The Monkey jumping off the "spaceship." Mr. Baseball telling me about the spaceship. And Little Bruiser busy being a space alien.

Believe it or not, we actually took a trip to the moon on Friday night. It was magical.

The boys building a spaceship to take us to the moon.