Flashback Photo Frenzy

At long last we have the computer working with the internet. That means full access to pictures with ability to post them. Hopefully it also means no crankiness on the part of the server when I try to make this post a reality. Today seems as good a day as any for doing this, seeing as how I'm not leaving my room much on account of a barfing dog. Poor Katcha has been all kinds of pukish today, and so we're trying to keep things nice and mellow for her, which means me sitting on the bed and being present if she decides to up-chuck again. Yummy, isn't it. Let's just say I've had a lot more experience with bodily fluids than my husband has, which makes me the prime candidate for doggie sick duty. But enough of that, lets go for that stroll down memory lane I've been promising for ages. We're going all the way back to Moscow for the start of this trip. Back when my dear little white mac decided it was full and didn't want to accept any more photos. Silly little thing. Hopefully after a three month respite it will be ready to accept me with open arms once again. So here are those little autumn lovelies from Idaho.

This water was actually kind of sickly looking, but the reflection was so nice I just couldn't resist.

And what would a little photo montage be without a poser shot? Do you know how hard it is to get a camera to balance on a branch at just the right angle? It's tricky. I have nice tripod that would make it all easier, but I often forget to carry it around in my purse all the time. Our next segment recalls those brutal cookies I whipped up for Halloween. I did post a few of these photos off my phone as well, but these are gloriously awful. You can see in the first one that they looked even more fingerlike before baking, but they puffed up quite a bit. I'll know better if I make them again.

Apparently I find it shamelessly entertaining to post photos of food I've managed to make. Perhaps it's because I'm so not a "foodie." So here are the Thanksgiving cookies my mom and I made out of another Rachel Ray mag. They had a lot of cream cheese in them, and were stuffed with apricot jam. A definite hit with the men in the house :)

A small nod now to the lovely Starbucks cup I got from Amy and Nate. I was extra excited to learn that you get a ten cent discount when you order your drink in the cup. So here you have Christmas (that's peppermint mocha for those not in the know) in a Hong Kong cup :)

We now have a bizarre little segue involving some food that I did not make. I must say that my wedding cake was a bit of a disaster. The cake lady delivered it basically as the wedding was starting, probably to avoid actually having to deal with anyone directly involved. It was more than a little off balance, and the longer you looked at it, the more obvious it was that it was essentially patched together with excessive quantities of frosting. At the same time, she made really beautiful sugary flowers, and it didn't taste bad. Wanting to hold with tradition as much as possible, although I've always been curious how a tradition like saving the top of your cake for your first anniversary came about seeing as how it started before refrigeration, we pulled the cake topper out when we were in McMinnville right before heading to Czech. Amazingly, it thawed out into a moist,delicious, chocolatey mess. You can see how the frosting mostly separated off revealing what a hack job it was, but at least it was tasty and the flowers remained in tact.

Next we have a picture of my most recent crochet job. A blanket I made for Jessie's new baby, Daniela, who entered the world the day after I left. At least I got to deliver the blanket in advance :)

On the day we flew out we decided to enjoy a little bit of Seattle. I feel like I have neglected Mark's education of cool things to see in the US, so it was nice to at least give him something before we left.

Yes, this is the first Starbucks. How could we resist checking that out.

I just couldn't resist that last photo of the Ross store. It looks a wee bit classier than our little Moscow Ross, but I imagine it isn't nearly as neat, clean and organized :) After our flight this was the first real Czech advertisement I saw. It was so absolutely bizarre and creepy that I just had to take a photo.

And here you can see the lovely little room that my mom-in-law had made up so nicely for us. It's where I'm sitting at this very moment as I type, with Katcha down at the end wrapped up in Mark's comforter and thankfully not barfing.

And the final photo on our little journey is of the cookies I put the cream on. I have yet to taste them, because all the cookies have been boxed up to take out at Christmas time, but at least I know they look beautiful.

So there you have a quick tour of photos from the last couple of months. Sorry for leaving it all as such a blur, but so it goes. Now that I know this computer will go online I'll try to keep things better up to date photo wise. It really helps to break up the posts, which I think makes them a bit less intimidating.