Day 60: Leap Day

Somehow, I didn't take a picture today. It's my first picture-less day of 2012. But I can still get 365 pictures this year, if I don't miss another day!

Day 59: Rejection

It's never fun, rejection. And, of course, I was hoping for an acceptance letter from all schools that I applied to. Unfortunately, today, I received this message announcing that was not accepted to one of my school. Hopefully this will be the only rejection!

Day 58: Engergizer

I had to run to the store to get batteries for my camera, because mine finally died. These Energizer advanced lithium are by far my favourites. I bought a package of six batteries last year, sometime in February. Those three sets lasted me until today - and I took well over 4,000 pictures and videos in that time. I must say, I am very satisfied with these batteries.

Day 57: Daffodil

With the daffodils blooming outside, it almost feels like spring. I don't think the flowers got the message that winter isn't quite over yet. But it's yet another beautiful day outside, and I've been basking in the glorious sun!

Day 56: Outside

It was a beautiful day outside today, so I spent some time enjoying the sun. The sun on my face and arms felt so amazing after several months of cool weather and long sleeves. And I enjoyed playing with my dog as well.

Day 55: Chocolat

I made dinner tonight and we finished off with delicious molten chocolate lava cakes while we watched Chocolat, which I'd never actually seen before. Anyway, these cakes were fantastic and so, so easy. Most definitely something I'll be making again!

Day 54: Mountains of Grass

We had a pretty good rain at the beginning of the week, and I went outside today to see these mountains of grass. I guess it's time to get out the mower!

Day 53: Ash Wednesday

At church tonight we gave each of the kids clay, which they then got to make into whatever they wanted. While we played with the clay, we thought about God as the potter and how he can mold our lives over the next forty days of Lent.

Day 52: Pancake Day

Today is pancake day, better known as Shrove Tuesday in the church or Mardi Gras in New Orleans. It is the day before Lent begins, a time during which many give up bad habits. Traditionally in the UK (and many other countries), it is a day on which you get rid of things in your house before the Lenten fast (butter, sugar, eggs and milk). It thus became known as pancake day, which my family of course celebrates.

We also use this dinner as an opportunity to discuss what we are each giving up for Lent. I am giving up the computer, for the most part. I will still post on this blog, I will still use the internet for recipes and I will still check my email for acceptance letters from grad school.

What will I not be doing? Facebook. Reading other blogs. Wasting time looking up random things. Watching shows online. Etcetera.

Day 51: Windy

It's been incredibly windy here over the past several days. The sky was brown again, but you can't really tell from this picture. Mostly it just seems void of colour.

Day 50: Brie Bites

I stumbled across this recipe for bite-sized baked Brie on Sara's pinterest, and it seemed like it would hit the spot this evening. Brie, fruit and puff pastry? So good! Mine don't look quite as pretty as they should, but I guarantee they tasted just as good!

Day 49: Balloons

I got this balloon from the father-daughter dance at church last Friday. I'm surprised it's still full of helium and floating by my ceiling! I know it's kind of silly, but it just makes me happy when I look at it. I love balloons!

Day 48: OK

I would never buy this magazine for myself. I hope I'm not offending anyone, but for me it's just not worth spending my money on. However, what I now do is take them from the doctor's office before they are set out for the patients. Once I've read it, I take it back and put it in the waiting room It definitely makes for a fun and light read!

Day 47: Big Blue

Joel went shopping with Mom the other day and they picked these up at the store. It's a branch off from Big Red, and it's actually pretty good. It's very similar to cream soda, with just a slightly different flavour. I'm not sure what that distinctive flavour is and the can does little to enlighten you.

Day 46: Atomizer

Mom gave me this perfume for Valentine's Day yesterday, and I really like it! I also love the atomizer, which is super cute. I've never had one of these before, and it's pretty fun.

Day 45: Happy Chocolate Day

We each had a secret Valentine today at work. We brought some sort of a container, which we gave in secret to a coworker. We also each brought bags of candy, which we then distributed to everyone in the office. I brought home a lot of chocolate, which always makes for a good day!

Day 44: Snowy

The snow was still on the ground this morning, which was a delight. Unfortunately, school (and consequently work) was still in session. Thankfully the roads weren't icy, so I didn't have any issues getting work. And Dad helped me scrape my car, which was a blessing.

Day 43: Snowflakes

Right now I'm enjoying watching the snow fall outside my window. It's only the third snow of the winter, so we are loving it. There's not much accumulation, but it's still so nice!

Day 42: Potato Rosemary Soup

After a chilly, cold day, I made soup for dinner. I got this potato rosemary recipe from Tasty Kitchen, and it was quite tasty. It has feta cheese, instead of the more traditional yellow cheeses. It was a nice change from the potato soup I've had before, though I certainly enjoy those as well.

Day 41: Valentine's Dance

Tonight was Highland's daddy-daughter Valentine's dance for the children's ministry. I helped out, serving drinks, cleaning up and observing dads with their little girls. It was so fun to watch the girls and their dads dance! At the end of the evening, one of my jobs was to separate a ton of rocks from several bags of candy hearts. It took forever, even with the help of these sweet girls.

Day 40: Ghengis Khan

Anna and I headed out to Ghengis Grill tonight for dinner. I had never been before, and we both enjoyed it a lot. I was proud of myself for eating my entire meal with chopsticks. I've never mastered chopsticks, so I'm surprised that I managed it!

Day 39: Union Jack

I found this card today in one of my many piles of papers. It was the nameplate for my door when I studied abroad. And it makes me miss Oxford so much! I must admit to getting jealous each semester when a group from ACU head across the Atlantic. I want to go with them!

Day 38: Blurred Moon

Leaving work at 7 again tonight, I was greeted by a huge, yellow moon. I'm back to my old camera, which doesn't take great moon pictures. Obviously. I am so ready for a new camera!

Day 37: Horses

Yet another Christmas present, which I am just now enjoying, is this book. I'm not very far into it, but I'm really liking it so far. Of course, it is a book about horses, so how could I not enjoy it?

Day 36: Super Bowl

With the Super Bowl always comes lots of good food. Our life group got together and everyone brought great food. Tonight our spread included dove, sand-hill crane and wild boar. Yumm!

Day 35: Shortbread

Yumm. I got this shortbread at TJ Maxx yesterday. It's way cheaper than it is at Wal-Mart! Definitely a nice treat for the end of the week.

Day 34: Kidnapping

This morning, two Americans were kidnapped by gunmen on the road from St. Catherine's monastery to Sharm el-Sheikh. They were released later in the day. Seeing as how Dad and I were driving this road less than a year ago, this was frightening to hear! I am thankful that we did get to go to Egypt and that we did it last year, as it would be too dangerous now.

Day 33: Late Night

I had to snap a pic of yet another sunset as I drove home this evening. It makes late evening a little more tolerable when I get to see this! Several nights this week I had to work until almost seven, so it's been a long week!

Day 32: Reception

My current workspace. For the past month I've been working reception at the office, and I'll be up there another month or so. It's definitely more stimulating than filing charts all day, but it's also more exhausting. Talking to new people has never been something that I've really enjoyed!