top 10 tuesday (mardi)

someone who (or whom?) i respect very much did wrote something similar like this and it made me remember my forgotten resolution to write a thank-you each week. so here it is, my top 10 things i'm thankful for, present day.

1. Health - i see children each day who have something missing or something not functioning right. i see the atypical one's and i realize how amazing it is to persevere in spite of that, and how profound it is to be born and develop typically.
2. Career - which is only beginning but i know it will forever challenge me to continue personal growth each day.
3. Plants - i get joy out of nurturing them, though i also get sadness when they take a turn for the worse.
4. My Apron - i got it as a gift and it perfectly fits my style and my recent ambitions to cook & bake everything & anything that i can manage!
5. Stable & Dry Gruond - it is unreal the tragedies that happen daily around the globe that i hardly know. i am thankful to have yesterday and right now in peace and calm.
6. Music - maybe it's a secret or maybe not, but i love dancing. i'm untrained, clumsy (only when walking), & self-conscious, but when you feel it, it's very freeing.
7. Warmer Weather that is moving into spokane as the season changes according to time.
8. Mom & Dad - for checking up on me, always being there, pushing me (even if i don't like their ways), and loving me for me.
9. Jordan - for offering new perspectives to life and challenging the way i see things. for making me feel relaxed, calm, and at peace.
10. Patricia - being my sounding board so that i can somehow make up some sort of decision about my life.

Done (it's a good thing)

stick a fork in me because i am done with graduate classes foreva!

Oregon Coast

i went to the northern portion of the Oregon coast for my spring break last week. it was very beautiful, not to mention the clouds parted and the sun shone especially for my visit. this is typical of my visits to the northwest coastline. temperatures soared close to 70! spectacular!!!

i saw my first whales in a cove. it was the perfect beach. there were 6 other people there. mostly i think this is b/c it's a 2-mile hike, which really isn't so far, but it's steep. either way, it keeps the place isolated & pristine. the whales were likely migrating gray whales, on their way up to Alaskan waters. my guess is that we saw a mother & calf, but since i was on the beach, i don't know the size of either of them. i watched for quite a while. it's kind of funny to think that the spouting every so often and the glimpse of fins & backs can be so appealing.


i was extremely excited to finally arrive at the beach after driving overnight for countless hours. it was windy but the sun was coming out. this is seaside, or. it was just a stop along the way.



haystack rock at cannon beach, or. this is probably the sea stack you've seen as desktop pictures & in photog books. but this is my photo b/c i was there! the tide was coming in but i'm not sure i could've gone out to the rock at low tide. something about minus tides... i don't know what those are.




i also saw harbor seals & sea lions, and starfish & anemones in tide pools. it was an exciting trip w/plenty of new sights. this portion of the coast seems to be littered with miles of beaches separated by looming cliffs. sea stacks were at nearly every beach to which i went. sunset was always great, and the atmosphere was enhanced with bonfires being lit and vehicles driving on the sand. definitely a different experience from the east coast beaches.
i did go in the ocean one day, a few times, but never for more than 30 seconds. it hurts b/c it's so frigid!
there was so much hiking to be done. we spent so much time on the beaches, climbing rocks, looking through tide pools, hiking on trails. the landscape changes so quickly. there were also sand dunes which i would've liked to ride 4-wheelers on. maybe another time...

some of my summer in photos

first day of graduate school














best camping spot i've experienced--- middle of nowhere northwest washington. crystal clear, placid waters. mountains. trees.














cool morning campfire














huckleberry picking ijn northern idaho. bear/cougar/wolf/moose country. delicious berries picked wild on the mountainside. no predator sitings.

break from blogging ...