What I've Been Up To, Pt. I

So, here we are backtracking all the way to March. At the end of March, we went to Houston for my littlest sister's wedding. the day before all the madness started, we went down to Hermann Park for a little sightseeing. Bf and I are Travel Nerds. It doesn't matter where we go, or why we go there,- we'll always manage to find something educational to do and see. This time we went to the butterfly exhibit at the Museum of Natural Science. So awesome.

In the butterfly exhibit, you sweat your butt off while wandering around in a rainforest-like enclosure. All the butterflies just flutter around you, and you have to resist the urge to swat at them as they fly by (or land on you!) It's pretty awesome.

I love this blue one. I think it's one of the Morphos.

Camouflage butterfly says that he is an owl, not a butterfly. No clue how this pic came out so perfectly in focus, but I just love it.
Fuzzy pic of the butterfly nursery. The orange and black striped one is emerging from his (or her) cocoon! I could have watched that for hours. First a little twitch...then a wiggle...then some more wiggling...then a bit of a wing...then more wing...then a butterfly! So exciting.

Posting two days in a row, look at me go. Hey, that rhymes.

Uh, hello.

Hello, everyone (especially Kerry).

So sad that it's taken me this long to get myself back to this space. It's a tricky thing, blogging. First there are stretches of days where everything is so regular, mundane, and ordinary that it hardly seems worth mentioning. And as we all know, I am not a person who slows down and remembers to breathe, or sees the beauty in a glass of water and a peice of toast or something. I mean yeah, those are good things. But they aren't MY things. It's all tomfoolery, all the time around these parts. But then there are occasions and things worth mentioning, finds worth sharing, and thoughts worth saving for later, and I don't do very well at that either. Time slips by at a rate of speed greater than my internet connection, and then it seems less than relevant. But it's all worth keeping, you just have to get around to it.

So.

Although I want to start way back in March, I would like to mention something first. This is the week of two very big anniversaries. First, it was two years ago that I brought home a terrified little hound named Sticks who was not house trained, got car sick, and would not walk on a leash. Now Maya keeps amazing us every day with the things she is willing to take in stride, and how very much she likes to snuggle. And bite your butt if she wants attention. And how loudly she barks. And how much she likes to go for walks. And car rides. And how she went to the Farmer's Market and walked through downtown traffic and into throngs of people and had only one freakout when the Kettle Corn man fired up his big kettle. She's a good girl. Perhaps on our three year anniversary, I will write about how she doesn't rip up potted plants. That would be nice.

The other anniversary is the one that marks the passing of our first year as a family, me and BF and Lilly and Maya and Charlie. A year ago, he arrived after a 10 hour drive in a car full of clothes, cds, and a big dumb dog. Now, I can hardly remember a time when I didn't wake up next to him (or Lilly, depending on if she got cold and snuck up into the bed between us). It's so easy to bicker about money, dishwasher loading principles, dinner, and TV viewing that I forget how really lonely I would be without them. It's been a most educational year, one where I learned a lot about compromise and team work and the awesome power of just being nice.

I've got lots more to catch up on here, and I promise to do just that. But this is getting awfully long, and that's no good. And since pictureless posts are no fun, here's a sunset for you.