babysitting

look who came by for a visit last night!

 

mr. hercules likes being an uncle

no comment :) lol

 isn't she a cutie?

 

I can see many afternoons spent at our house playing video games with Uncle Ty in her future...

 

 

she had some mad gaming skills!

I'll add the video later :)

have a lovely weekend!

:/

Just looked at the weather forecast for the next 10 days:

drat.

A fear of rectangles

I haven't had the best day today. It's been funky, and I'm in a bit of an ennui. So to get through the afternoon, I am watching West Wing clips on my break. Thought I'd share some lovely ones with you.

This one always makes me feel good :)

This is particularly funny to me because I had a dream about it the other night... I won't give you all the details, because it's far too ridiculous (mr. hercules about drove off the road laughing so hard)

Halloween

We had a very fun party at our apartment on Saturday! Hope your weekend was a safe one!

Mr. Hercules working on his Enterprise pumpkin

 

our friend Heber helping carve my pumpkin

some very cute bugs! {mr. hercules' half-sisters}a lovely bug catcher {mr. hercules' step-mom}and a kind of creepy exterminator... lol {mr. hercules' dad}

I would have given these two a trophy if I had one!

(joe & libby)

chrissie and kathy

kathy the sweet lil' bird!

tristine watching Scooby-Doo

chelsie jamming out :)

Landyn the cute frog!

the finished product

 

do you know who my pumpkin is?

mr. hercules as Wolverine :)

(i think he's cuter than hugh jackman)

 

i am SO in love with this man

lol

he's been growing his hair and beard out for a couple of months to get it long enough to be wolverine. we cut it all off yesterday, and I have my Captain Awesome back :)

I hope you all had a safe, lovely Halloween!

validation

The most lovely thing you will see in a long time, I promise. :)

I absolutely adored TJ Thyne in Bones, and he's just as awesome here :)

Why I love being me

The other day I read an article on Yahoo's blog about a Ralph Lauren model and was absolutely disgusted at the ad (and not just because I thought the clothes were bad). Read it if you haven't already. (Uncanny Valley, anyone?)

A couple of nights ago after I finished reading in the tub, I felt weird. Not because I like to almost boil myself in the water, but because I saw myself in the mirror. Now I know you're saying to yourself, "Self, why would that make Chantile feel weird?" and most days I would agree with you. But I've gained around twenty pounds since I met Mr. Hercules last year, and lately it's like seeing myself for the first time. The weight gain isn't something I'm complaining about--it's honestly about the grandest thing that could happen to my body, if you've known me very long--in fact, it's a little exciting. Mr. Hercules described how I looked when he met me as "Zombie-scary-skinny."

(I've honestly never been called a zombie before. I may have laughed. A lot.)

And now he pokes my stomach and pinches my fluff, and smiles. "I love you with weight on you. You're curvy, and you look healthy now," he said. (Which is true--I am actually MUCH more healthy now, and I always dreamt that in an alternate universe, I am a lovely voluptuous Latin woman who doesn't fall down in high heels).

We've been looking at pictures of ourselves (remember the long babbling post about cleaning up the computer?), and it's been interesting to see the transformation of me gaining weight. (I actually took pictures of myself to help me keep track of my weight--mile-markers of sorts. I thought about posting some of them, but they're gross.) I feel so much more like me now (even though I still sort of have hips of death), and it's a great feeling! I want to go to my doctor who told me last year to quit trying so hard to gain weight, because this is who I am and how I would probably always be, and show him how happy I am now, how much better I feel, how much better I sleep, how much better I look! Take that, high school guidance counselor, and everyone in my old singles wards who thought I had an eating disorder!

I had a friend call me the other day almost in tears because of a comment someone made about her weight. She's a lot like me: tall, skinny, and eats like a linebacker. Somehow, she's managed to avoid comments about her weight from everyone but her family. Until the other day. Why, oh why, do we women feel the need to be hurtful? We are born with such a capacity to love and make things beautiful; can't we extend that to each other? The only thing I could give my friend was a quote I read a long time ago: "Where is it written that the skin on thin women is thicker?"

H's.O.D. notwithstanding, I'll take being me, thank you very much. I feel so sad and disappointed in anyone who feels the need to portray a woman's body in a disfigured way to sell something. Eat, woman! I'll buy you (and the retarded Photoshop guy) a taco cart!

It's not flattering--it's honestly disgusting. I don't know why anyone thought that it would be a good idea to change the model's body this way... I hereby declare that I will never shop Ralph Lauren ever again. Thanks, RL.

So instead of feeling the need to edit and change and falsify ourselves, I thought it would be nice to announce what we love about ourselves--our quirks, our freckles, our boney elbows, our double chins: it's all beautiful because it's us.

What I love about me:

 1  Few people can trip as gracefully in 3 inch heels as I can
 2  I am very empathic
 3  I have a freakishly accurate memory for numbers
 4  Watch out for my fast right hook! ;)
 5  Hips of death!
 6  I look great in green (no, that was not a clever way of saying that I have a low carbon footprint)
 7  I have a wide, toothy grin
 8  I can beat anyone at Oblivion!!! (yes, that was an official challenge)
 9  I have an insatiable hunger for books
10 Have you tried my brownies? C'mon.


What do you love about yourself? :)

Hollow me out

How do I live when you're not here?
Pain lives me, a wound speaks with my mouth.
And when you return? Only you know
How you hollow me out and dance in the hollow.

- Jalal-ud-Din Rumi

This week I've been cleaning up my computer and sorting through things, which honestly means I've been saying to myself, "Oh, I forgot I had that!"

Mr. Hercules and I are 2 different energy types. I am a Type 2* and he's a Type 1**, but acts like 3***a lot.  We talk about this often, and have found it useful to be able understand why we are the way we are. On Friday night Ty was asking me if I knew where my sewing tape measure was. Of course, you'd think it would be in my sewing box, so I went to look there. Nope. So, next logical place would be my dresser drawer (don't ask why, it makes sense to me). Not there either. Mr. Hercules stood there somewhat bemused, and said, "Well, where do you think you would have put it?" Next was a drawer on my computer desk (Type 2's like our piles and places. Our organization may not make sense to anyone else, but it does to us!). Not there, either. Ty finally found it (can't really remember where, now...) and asked me why I don't put things back in the same place every time. I told him because 1-it is boring that way, and 2-I like to have mini-adventures in my life, and I think that when I put something down, if I can't find again, I'll find it when I need it most, and if I don't and stumble over it again somewhere down the road, it's exciting because it's something you had forgotten you even had. (This happens to me with clothes and shoes a lot. It's like shopping for free!)



Which is probably why he keeps asking me where I put things after I fold his laundry. It's all generally in the same place... but it's not nearly as exciting his way.


But back to the original purpose of this post--it all makes sense to me, can't you keep up?--cleaning up the computer. In the midst of all of that cleaning and "finding," I've been looking at our wedding pictures a lot. This week I've also been trying to refocus my gratitude, for many things in my life, but especially for Tyson. 

We've been married for almost 6 months now (seems like SO much longer!). He mentioned the other night while I was cooking dinner, that everyone says that the first year is the hardest. I felt a little glum after he said that, until he finished with--"but this has been the easiest, best time I've ever had." :)

(I will hold him, and love him and squeeze him and call George!)

I love my Mister. :) I swear he's psychic. Whenever I need chocolate, he magically shows up at work with some, or has some waiting for me at home. He's been the only guy to let me play Halo with him without trying to kill my character and laugh about it. He puts up with my shoe addiction. He tells me he loves me about 25 times a day (literally), and wakes me up in the morning with hugs and kisses. I feel like an absolute goddess with him. 

And we've got an amazing chocolate chip cookie tag-team. I make the dough, he bakes the cookies. Can life get any better? :) 

We haven't been able to spend as many weekends together in the past month, mostly because one or the other of us has been out of town, or he's been working. It's the best thing in the world to be hugged Lennie-style and be told how much you were missed and loved.

*Water--fluid, comfort, muted--think of sitting under a weeping willow next to a flowing river

 **Air--buoyant, free, bright, upward--think of a dolphin

***Fire--textured, angular, substantial, dynamic--these are the "get it done" people

happyness + 5 senses friday

things that made me happy today

mr. hercules babysits the mexican jumping bean

mr. hercules playing with my best friend's son

(don't you just love his Mr. T hair?)

hercules, hercules!

 

my lovely sister ann and her 3rd child

Have you read "The Pursuit of Happyness" by Chris Gardner? I picked it up again. Such an uplifting story.

"You know how mountains get moved? Everyone who can move a couple, move a couple. Those who can move rocks, move rocks. Those who can move boulders, move boulders. That’s how mountains get moved. If every one of us did everything we could, I believe we would be in a different world." - Chris Gardner

Tasting:  sweet, cold, delicious water
Touching:  my new shirt from badbabytees  but her shop is closed now :(
Smelling:  angel heart body elixir from crystalwood
Feeling:   sorry for mr. hercules, who is home sick with hurt ribs (we spent yesterday in the ER. good times)
Seeing:  only sad, blue skies. No clouds :( bah

Catching Up

The last couple of weeks have been so hectic. This last weekend was the first one I didn't spend out of town in the last month, and since Mr. Hercules and I spent Wednesday to Friday home sick, it was nice to have a break and not go anywhere.

Saturday was lovely. We "slept in" to about 8:45 after being awake until 3 a.m. early Saturday morning (an event deserving it's own post, I assure you--let's just say a certain blogger was irritated at her loud neighbors @ 1:14 in the morning, and finally called police. Who didn't leave the neighbor's apartment until 3 a.m. Yep. It was a great night!). My brother came and shared breakfast with us, and while I stood over the stove making eggs, cinnamon french toast, and bacon, rain began to pour beautifully outside--in the same instant that "Keep Us" (if you've read long, you know how much that song means to me) by Peter Bradley Adams came on.

It was the perfect morning.

A line from "Vapour Trail" by Trespassors William (originally performed by Ride) stayed in my head all day:

And all my time is yours as much as mine,
We never have enough, time to show our love

I try to be a good wife, a good friend, but it makes me think: what could I do better to show my love?

**if I promised you a treat for reading my 200th post, it will be in the mail shortly! :) thanks for being patient!**

Polaroid Monday

such a sweetie :)

been sick all last week; will update more regularly later

xoxoxo chani

Polaroid Monday

love this little guy

Mr. Hercules Meets The Gipper

Sounds like a great movie, right?

 

 

 

Rain *** 200th Post!***

I know I missed Polaroid Monday. I'll post one soon to make up for it. In the meantime, today it is GORGEOUS. Abso-freaking-lutely fall gorgeous :) I started a Beginning Spanish course last night, and when the class was wrapping up, it just started dumping rain; it was thundering like crazy, and lightning was crashing everywhere. It. Was. Fantastic. :) Everyone was screaming (please, people...), running to their cars... I walked quietly and slowly, water sloshing in my shoes when I was barely 10 feet out the door (there may have been a puddle jump or two...). I drove home calmly and happily (even though you couldn't see the road. I'd say it was pretty close to flash-flooding), and by the time I got in the house, my pants, hoodie, and hat were completely soaked. I kissed Mr. Hercules hello, left my clothes in a nice big pile by the front door and jumped in a lovely hot shower. It was a perfect night :)

It continued to rain throughout the night, and has still been rainy today, but not as much. But I love the dreary grey--I feel right at home in it. (Have you caught on that I am not a fan of sunny days yet? Bah) Everything, even at work today, screams fall. So I offer you my 5 senses of this beautiful fall day:

Sight: my desktop wallpaper (can't remember where I got it to give credit, sorry!)

Touch: I can still feel Ty's scruffy kiss from this morning. (He rarely shaves during the week, which I adore. I like him scruffy. I hope to see a nice thick beard come winter!) Every morning, he leaves for work about an hour before me, and wakes me up by kissing me good morning/goodbye. It's one of my favorite moments of the day.

Sound: "Kingdom of Heaven" soundtrack; "Easy Money" by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds; "Candleburn" by Dishwalla; "Lament" by Light of Aidan; also listening to Peter Bradley Adams. You know how much I love him. And, of course, "Rain" by Patty Griffin, and "Rain" by Priscilla Ahn. How could I leave them out? (Rain, rain don't go away--the sun can come back another day)

Smell: a vanilla chai candle, and this divine skin oil from Haunt. It's absolutely delicious. You have no idea. This is the epitome of fall for me. It smells like blood oranges, cardamom, and orchids. I use it as a body oil, but also put it in my hair.

Taste: Fresh peaches with a little sugar from my co-worker's trees.

It's a beautiful day.


On a side note: I can't believe I've actually written 200 posts... insane! I'm feeling quite proud of myself, actually. Today is a good day to celebrate, and I'm feeling excited about following through with something I told myself I would do better at (I don't scrapbook, I'm not good at keeping a journal any more, so this seemed like the logical thing to do to keep better track of the wonderful things in my life). So to celebrate, if you leave a comment on this post, you will get something. A mix CD? A piece of jewelry made by moi? Something lovely from Etsy? Who knows! I haven't decided yet. :) But I will reward your readership with... something. :)

A good day

This week hadn't been the best.

I broke a tooth (which got fixed the same day, luckily!). Ty's been out of town since Thursday at a paintball tournament (I'm never in a great mood when he's gone). And I've been incredibly moody and irritated at stupid people who encroach their ignorance on other people. Etc.

But today, I finally got to meet my newest niece, Reagan. It was SUCH a great day! :) I hadn't seen my sister and bro-in-law in forever, and really missed them. It was fantastic. I'm in a good mood again :)
(especially after I got home and realized the reason people were looking at me funny when I stopped at a gas station to fill up was because I had torn a huge hole of death in my favorite pants and hadn't realized my bottom was hanging out. I am a graceful one. lol) 

 

  

(above pics by Adam)

  

  

the beautiful mama 

(i think i might have to do a charcoal of this one)

  

snuggling with Grandma

 pretty in pink

her doting father 

the ride home

(photo by john)

We Are ODST

So. Very. Excited. (orbital drop shock trooper...if you were wondering)