Tropical Birds

Allow me to pay homage to the tropical birds outside my open bathroom window.

I rarely see them, but when I do, they are small, yet all day their piercing songs slice the humid air forcing all to hear regardless of whether or not they are listening.

They come and go finding food, where? Finding water, where? Finding shelter, where? All the while singing, squawking, screaming their praises. There is nothing I do that lures them and nothing I do that scares them away.

I often stop mid-morning or mid-evening to just listen.

Our bathroom window opens up on an overgrown, empty lot. Just beyond the lot is this alley. Hidden in those branches and sitting on the wires are all kinds of tropical birds.

Purple

Recently, I've been admiring these flowers that have popped up all over town this past month. Admire them with me!

California's Fall Colors

Hats off to the thorny, rebellious tree up the street who, just when leaves should be dying and falling, puts out a shockingly pink display that screams, "It's spring!"

Each individual flower is enough to make me stop and admire.

These show stopping flowers fill each thorny branch.

All adding up to the most spectacular autumn display.

Five Days in Colorado

My man and I got to spend an extended Fourth of July weekend in Colorado with family. The weekend was full of:


Nature,

After years of failed attempts, we finally made it on top of Harmonica Arch.

A moon rock.

My big bro and his pup.

I was trying to catch a shot of a lightning fork by using a super slow shutter speed, but I got these awesome clouds instead. I love Colorado thunderstorms.

Family,

I got to see almost twenty of my family members. Here's grandma and my cousins' dog, Baggins.

My happy parents.

And, of course, Food.

shish kabobs!

The best cheesecake ever!

And our dishware: urine collection cups. My mom brought them from her clinic. Hopefully they were unused!

Paris. Maui. Venice. Death Valley.

When my husband and I planned our second anniversary romantic getaway to Death Valley, I was expecting a barren desert wasteland. We were going mostly because of the adventure of trying something new and half for the irony of spending a wedding anniversary in a place as awful sounding as "Death Valley."

But, let me tell you, Death Valley turned out to be one of the most spectacular places I have ever been. There was so much to see and do! Our weekend was packed with all sorts of adventures and memories. Here are just a few:


Here's our lovely campsite. I admired the snowcapped peaks even in Death Valley. Who says it doesn't snow in Southern California?

Beautiful desert drives.

Badwater Basin: Lowest elevation point in the US, 8th lowest elevation point in the world! The white fields are salt flats. I verified that fact with a swift swipe of the ground with my index finger and a quick lick of my finger.

I decided to take advantage of the sun and the heat by making sun tea on our dashboard using a ziploc bag.

Making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches out of the trunk before hiking.

Natural arch. The teeny blue dot below is me.

It was so, so windy that Saturday that the rock piles that hikers make on trails were blowing over, I blew over and bruised my shin on some rocks, and Michael's shirt flapped like a flag in the wind. At least it made the almost triple digit temperature much more bearable.

Hiking the Mesquite Sand Dunes. There are about a half dozen places with sand dunes in this park.

How do these little wildflowers blooms on so few drops of rain? There wasn't much plant life in Death Valley, but every little shrub and flower impressed my socks off simply due to the fact of its existence.

And I thought Los Angeles gas prices were high... This is the Chevron in the heart of Death Valley.

Being our weird selves:

Getting in touch with our hick selves.

Super hick with his Japanese shirt.

The best part of the trip was hanging out with this guy. Happy year two, Michael!

All in all, I officially recommend Death Valley National Park to those who love nature and don't mind getting sweaty.

Happy Things for a Busy Girl

My posting has been slow recently because this girl has been plain, old busy. But, in my hustle and bustle I have been enjoying these little things.

Chinese Magnolias. These tiny, delicate trees have been blooming purple, teacup-sized flowers for weeks. If I ever own property in Southern California or another similar climate, I will plant a Chinese Magnolia.

Espresso and dark chocolate. If you ever experience a 3pm slump on a Monday, brew an espresso and eat some dark chocolate. It solves all your problems. Only, in my case, it kept me up until 2am that night. I am way too sensitive to caffeine.

Sprouting plants. I got a little package of wildflower seeds at an event that I attended. I recently threw some mulch in a pot (I didn't even have dirt) and sprinkled the seeds on. It's been fun to monitor their growth.

A Warm February Day

My husband took me to a local garden to celebrate Valentine's Day two days early. I couldn't resist bringing my camera to take a few shots! You just saw the beautiful, serious photos. The handsome, not so serious photos are below:

Pine-ing Fir Yew?! You've got to be kidding.

That's a BIG pinecone!

St. Mary's Glacier

Yesterday, my husband, parents, and I hiked up a glacier located about an hour out of Denver. Although the lake at the foot of the glacier was frozen, the sky was sunny and the weather was mild.


But, as we began ascending the glacier, the wind picked up. The gusts whipped powdery snow at our faces and the inch of water in my husband's water bottle froze solid. The 11,000+ altitude combined with the steep face made our steps slow and laborious. 


Unfortunately, with every few feet we walked, another few feet of the glacier appeared at the top of the hill. When my dad ran up some snow covered rocks to the left of the glacier to scope out how much further we had to go, I snapped this picture. Due to the biting cold and the unknown distance left, we ran, stumbled, tromped, slid, and sledded (on our coats and/or nylon covered butts) all the way back down.


What a tiring, fun, and gorgeous adventure!