Here we are reuniting with the lovely Krisanne and the lovely Brittany.
Lord Nathan and Lady Bats are proud to announce the birth of the future King James of Brookshire Manor. Long live the King!
Saturday, 16 October 2010
Fright Night
I meant to post these pictures back in April. Our friend Tyson invited us to a night at Club Sanctuary ~ a night in which people wear their most extreme goth clothing and dance to industrial/goth/metal music. After much convincing, Nathan allowed us to apply make-up for the special occasion! We had a grand time.
Here we are reuniting with the lovely Krisanne and the lovely Brittany.
Here we are reuniting with the lovely Krisanne and the lovely Brittany.
Sunday, 3 October 2010
Friday, 10 September 2010
When people think of me, it seems they imagine either faeries or witches, as is evident a la facebook - (i was tagged as being this poppy faerie...
and this disturbing witch.
In other news, we are having a BOY!!! The child shall be called James. I am currently 22 weeks (give or take) with a due date ranging from January 4 - 16. I LOVE getting chunky and my inner thighs are almost touching! Not to mention that I now have proper "melons." ;) Pregnancy was rough the first trimester during my first semester of grad school, but physically, things are much more pleasant. :) Emotionally, however... hmmm.
Our nephew Sam visited from England for 5 weeks. Nathan, Sam and Reed (father) visited 6 National Parks - Yellowstone, Tetons, Arches, Canyonlands, Bryce and Zion. I'm completely envious! Although, I did tag along to Arches to do a bit of light hiking and eating of ridiculously expensive food. I highly recommend the Desert Lounge. Okay, I know I am completely lame for what I am about to admit here but... we packed the second complimentary loaf of bread from the Desert Lounge into my purse. (hehehe). We were planning to hike to Delicate Arch at midnight but didn't. The bread stayed in my purse for a few days. I have yet to clean out that purse.
If you haven't added "A Broom With A View: Music from the Halloween Carols" to your collection for this festive Autumnal season, you must. Otherwise I will haunt your soul. Go to www.halloweencarols.com or simply click on the link under my "wonderful websites" heading.
Nathan is doing a bit of work teaching art/music for elementary aged school children. He's also recovering from eating Carl's Jr. everynight with Sam.
More news to come... sometime!
and this disturbing witch.
In other news, we are having a BOY!!! The child shall be called James. I am currently 22 weeks (give or take) with a due date ranging from January 4 - 16. I LOVE getting chunky and my inner thighs are almost touching! Not to mention that I now have proper "melons." ;) Pregnancy was rough the first trimester during my first semester of grad school, but physically, things are much more pleasant. :) Emotionally, however... hmmm.
Our nephew Sam visited from England for 5 weeks. Nathan, Sam and Reed (father) visited 6 National Parks - Yellowstone, Tetons, Arches, Canyonlands, Bryce and Zion. I'm completely envious! Although, I did tag along to Arches to do a bit of light hiking and eating of ridiculously expensive food. I highly recommend the Desert Lounge. Okay, I know I am completely lame for what I am about to admit here but... we packed the second complimentary loaf of bread from the Desert Lounge into my purse. (hehehe). We were planning to hike to Delicate Arch at midnight but didn't. The bread stayed in my purse for a few days. I have yet to clean out that purse.
If you haven't added "A Broom With A View: Music from the Halloween Carols" to your collection for this festive Autumnal season, you must. Otherwise I will haunt your soul. Go to www.halloweencarols.com or simply click on the link under my "wonderful websites" heading.
Nathan is doing a bit of work teaching art/music for elementary aged school children. He's also recovering from eating Carl's Jr. everynight with Sam.
More news to come... sometime!
Thursday, 10 June 2010
Through A Scanner Darkly
We had our first baby scan... Machel said the baby's heartbeat looks brisk. :) Baby is due January 19th ~ a winter child. Nathan believes the child is a boy. I believe whatever Nathan believes because he is more righteous than me. ;)
Today I had one month's worth of grad school instruction crammed into 8 hours. Oh, boy. Sucks to be me, right? Because the summer's are condensed into 5 weeks, coursework and lectures are crammed into small amounts of time. So... have I learned anything yet? Nope. I feel like I don't know my own name anymore.
Nathan is looking forward to the England vs. USA game on Saturday for the world cup- go USA! Just kidding. Come on England! ;)
Today I had one month's worth of grad school instruction crammed into 8 hours. Oh, boy. Sucks to be me, right? Because the summer's are condensed into 5 weeks, coursework and lectures are crammed into small amounts of time. So... have I learned anything yet? Nope. I feel like I don't know my own name anymore.
Nathan is looking forward to the England vs. USA game on Saturday for the world cup- go USA! Just kidding. Come on England! ;)
Monday, 31 May 2010
Baby News
To those of you who read our blog (sorry for the lack of updates)...
Nathan and I are expecting our first child this winter! We are elated, ecstatic, thrilled, intrigued, nervous, happy, etc. etc. etc.
Pregnancy should be fun as I embark on my M-F, 8-5, 1.5 hour commute one way Master's degree starting next week - ahh!
We'll be better about updating our blog. :)
Nathan and I are expecting our first child this winter! We are elated, ecstatic, thrilled, intrigued, nervous, happy, etc. etc. etc.
Pregnancy should be fun as I embark on my M-F, 8-5, 1.5 hour commute one way Master's degree starting next week - ahh!
We'll be better about updating our blog. :)
Tuesday, 20 October 2009
There and Back Again, part 2: a snake, a bear, a death, a swarm
Although it is nearing the end of October, I'm still reveling in the events that happened on our wanderings throughout the mountains and deserts of Utah, Arizona, Idaho and Wyoming this past summer.
Sebastian, our 18-year-old nephew from England arrived with us as we stepped onto the desert soil of the stunning and sacred state of Utah.
Our first journey began as we drove to Moab/Arches National Park and camped in sweltering heat for 3 nights. We hiked to delicate Arch and spent two hours alone there...alone! It is highly irregular to find oneself alone at Delicate Arch in the month of July but it happened for us. It was breathtaking to be amongst nature's artifacts and play around like Indiana Jones. Later, we spent some time in Devil's Garden looking at some of the arches. Sadly, I was feeling pretty poorly (lack of water) and waited the men out in a mysterious shadow being created by one of the large standstone cliffs. We signed up for a tour of the Fiery Furnace. It about blew my head off to see the perfect formations and kryptobiotic crusts that were in tact. Simply stunning! We spent a quiet evening at Dead Horse Point, cooking dinner on the cliff edge as we waited the stars to appear. It was a perfect evening.
After Arches/moab, we ventured to Mexican Hat, Utah. This has to be one of my favourite places in Utah. We stayed at the San Juan Inn (I highly recommend it) and purchased loads of Navajo crafts and medicines. There was a lovely and quirky native man that shared many stories of all the Hollywood actors that would film nearby and get absolutely smashed with the locals. Apparantly, he was also a famous artist. Quite amusing. :) We also "cliff" jumped in the shallow San Juan River. That was refreshing and a bit creepy as we had to crawl up the hot rocks with shedded snake skins mingled throughout the stones.
Off to Monument Valley we drove. Wow. This is another place my heart felt the vibrations and heard the echoes of an old generation of people and memory - the Navajo. We stopped at their mini side street huts to admire their crafts, stories, and the view. Such good souls!
~ a snake ~
Passing through Monument Valley we made our way to the Grand Canyon - Finally! The Grand Canyon is definitely not overrated. Our first full day we spent hiking around the Grand View trail amongst a thunderstorm (not a good idea as the lightning was within striking distance!)
We never intended to hike to the Colorado River and back out in one day on this trip. However, that is what our adventureous spirits concluded would be the BEST experience...heh. We were told by many people and read many warning signs that we should not attempt to hike to the bottom and back out in one day. Apparantly, about 250 people are pulled out of the canyon each year "that look like us" because they suffer from heat exhaustion or dehydration whilst attempting this task. Hmmmmmm. We were certainly determined not to be rescued and packed well for the journey. After seeking advice on how to hike smart from a canyon employee, we began our excursion at 3:00 am on the South Kaibab Trail, after having slept only 3 hours. HMMMMMM. I have to thank the South Kaibab trail for giving me my awesome calf muscles. The trail is steep and all down hill. With a heavy pack of 5 liters of water, 3 peaunut butter sandwiches, 4 pears, 1 bag of crips (chips), 1 apple, 10 cereal bars, 10 strips of fruit leather, toilet paper, 3 bottles of sunscreen, 1 first aid kit, 3 large sticks of beef jerky and a few other items, my calves were shocked.
After 6 hours (I think) we reached the Colorado! We were so grateful to dip our toes and dunk our heads in that river. We made our way to Phantom Ranch to rest our bodies during the heat of the day. The advice we were given instructed us to wait until around 3 or 4 pm to begin the journey up. Glad we did! It was unbearably humid (due to the vastness of the Colorado) and hot. The temperature reached a record high... 112 degrees! The heat completely drained us as we desperately sought shade and relaxation, none of which was in abundance. Did I mention that we had a double layer of clothing? (*wink*)
We set off for the ascent at 5:00 pm, much later than expected.
(again, i'll continue to update this over the next few days)
Sebastian, our 18-year-old nephew from England arrived with us as we stepped onto the desert soil of the stunning and sacred state of Utah.
Our first journey began as we drove to Moab/Arches National Park and camped in sweltering heat for 3 nights. We hiked to delicate Arch and spent two hours alone there...alone! It is highly irregular to find oneself alone at Delicate Arch in the month of July but it happened for us. It was breathtaking to be amongst nature's artifacts and play around like Indiana Jones. Later, we spent some time in Devil's Garden looking at some of the arches. Sadly, I was feeling pretty poorly (lack of water) and waited the men out in a mysterious shadow being created by one of the large standstone cliffs. We signed up for a tour of the Fiery Furnace. It about blew my head off to see the perfect formations and kryptobiotic crusts that were in tact. Simply stunning! We spent a quiet evening at Dead Horse Point, cooking dinner on the cliff edge as we waited the stars to appear. It was a perfect evening.
After Arches/moab, we ventured to Mexican Hat, Utah. This has to be one of my favourite places in Utah. We stayed at the San Juan Inn (I highly recommend it) and purchased loads of Navajo crafts and medicines. There was a lovely and quirky native man that shared many stories of all the Hollywood actors that would film nearby and get absolutely smashed with the locals. Apparantly, he was also a famous artist. Quite amusing. :) We also "cliff" jumped in the shallow San Juan River. That was refreshing and a bit creepy as we had to crawl up the hot rocks with shedded snake skins mingled throughout the stones.
Off to Monument Valley we drove. Wow. This is another place my heart felt the vibrations and heard the echoes of an old generation of people and memory - the Navajo. We stopped at their mini side street huts to admire their crafts, stories, and the view. Such good souls!
~ a snake ~
Passing through Monument Valley we made our way to the Grand Canyon - Finally! The Grand Canyon is definitely not overrated. Our first full day we spent hiking around the Grand View trail amongst a thunderstorm (not a good idea as the lightning was within striking distance!)
We never intended to hike to the Colorado River and back out in one day on this trip. However, that is what our adventureous spirits concluded would be the BEST experience...heh. We were told by many people and read many warning signs that we should not attempt to hike to the bottom and back out in one day. Apparantly, about 250 people are pulled out of the canyon each year "that look like us" because they suffer from heat exhaustion or dehydration whilst attempting this task. Hmmmmmm. We were certainly determined not to be rescued and packed well for the journey. After seeking advice on how to hike smart from a canyon employee, we began our excursion at 3:00 am on the South Kaibab Trail, after having slept only 3 hours. HMMMMMM. I have to thank the South Kaibab trail for giving me my awesome calf muscles. The trail is steep and all down hill. With a heavy pack of 5 liters of water, 3 peaunut butter sandwiches, 4 pears, 1 bag of crips (chips), 1 apple, 10 cereal bars, 10 strips of fruit leather, toilet paper, 3 bottles of sunscreen, 1 first aid kit, 3 large sticks of beef jerky and a few other items, my calves were shocked.
After 6 hours (I think) we reached the Colorado! We were so grateful to dip our toes and dunk our heads in that river. We made our way to Phantom Ranch to rest our bodies during the heat of the day. The advice we were given instructed us to wait until around 3 or 4 pm to begin the journey up. Glad we did! It was unbearably humid (due to the vastness of the Colorado) and hot. The temperature reached a record high... 112 degrees! The heat completely drained us as we desperately sought shade and relaxation, none of which was in abundance. Did I mention that we had a double layer of clothing? (*wink*)
We set off for the ascent at 5:00 pm, much later than expected.
(again, i'll continue to update this over the next few days)
Saturday, 29 August 2009
There and Back Again, part I
We have experienced many things (!) since the end of May. We celebrated 3 years of marital bliss and 32 years of Nathan’s mortality.
This post will consist of our travels back to England ~
Arriving in the British Isles, we were soon off to Northern Ireland for 5 days. Finally ~ my feet touched ground on the most enchanting of lands! I could ALMOST feel the vibrations from the old faerie folk shooting through me like an ionospheric lightning storm *sigh*. I got hold of a map and was immediately drawn to the nearest set of stone circles. So, we drove to the Beaghmore (bay-more) stone circles and played around with the Ancients for about 4 hours. Eventually, we continued driving through the glorious countryside, then puttered north to Portstewart on the northern shore, and finishing the day at Dunluce castle. It was absolutely breathtaking. The following days were spent hiking in the Mourne Mountains and driving the lovely Antrim coast to Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge and Giant’s Causeway.
Our lovely hostess completely wore us out. Well done, Diane!
Each day our diet consisted of pub food, snickers, bread, cheese and tomatoes. Delicious! I was able to detect Nathan’s Irish ancestry, mostly in his eyes, as we met many Irish natives (not all, but quite a few).
We loved N. Ireland's old and gentle beauty and long to visit again someday.
The rest of our time in England was spent enjoying our old favourites ~ Canterbury, London (we finally shopped goth in Camden and visited the Tate Britain!!), Hythe Coast, the countryside, and many others. Oh, and I spent one solid week packing and shipping boxes of our “stuff” ~ (mostly clothes and dvds). Phew!
Stay tuned for more posts about our adventures in Utah! For now, here are a few images from Northern Ireland.
enjoying pub food, superb Irish drunks and lovely music
feeling a bit magical
nathan feeling a bit magical like us
we three gargoyles
Portstewart
Dunluce castle
enjoying a rare sunny day at Carrick-a-Rede
more Carrick-a-Rede (my favourite)
along the Antrim coast
Antrim coast
a beautiful eveing at Giant's Causeway
Giant's Causeway
This post will consist of our travels back to England ~
Arriving in the British Isles, we were soon off to Northern Ireland for 5 days. Finally ~ my feet touched ground on the most enchanting of lands! I could ALMOST feel the vibrations from the old faerie folk shooting through me like an ionospheric lightning storm *sigh*. I got hold of a map and was immediately drawn to the nearest set of stone circles. So, we drove to the Beaghmore (bay-more) stone circles and played around with the Ancients for about 4 hours. Eventually, we continued driving through the glorious countryside, then puttered north to Portstewart on the northern shore, and finishing the day at Dunluce castle. It was absolutely breathtaking. The following days were spent hiking in the Mourne Mountains and driving the lovely Antrim coast to Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge and Giant’s Causeway.
Our lovely hostess completely wore us out. Well done, Diane!
Each day our diet consisted of pub food, snickers, bread, cheese and tomatoes. Delicious! I was able to detect Nathan’s Irish ancestry, mostly in his eyes, as we met many Irish natives (not all, but quite a few).
We loved N. Ireland's old and gentle beauty and long to visit again someday.
The rest of our time in England was spent enjoying our old favourites ~ Canterbury, London (we finally shopped goth in Camden and visited the Tate Britain!!), Hythe Coast, the countryside, and many others. Oh, and I spent one solid week packing and shipping boxes of our “stuff” ~ (mostly clothes and dvds). Phew!
Stay tuned for more posts about our adventures in Utah! For now, here are a few images from Northern Ireland.
enjoying pub food, superb Irish drunks and lovely music
feeling a bit magical
nathan feeling a bit magical like us
we three gargoyles
Portstewart
Dunluce castle
enjoying a rare sunny day at Carrick-a-Rede
more Carrick-a-Rede (my favourite)
along the Antrim coast
Antrim coast
a beautiful eveing at Giant's Causeway
Giant's Causeway
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