The Tree of Life

"The Tree of Life"

My Grandma Crowley was a big traveler in her earlier years. She had been all over the world, including Egypt, Russia,China and parts of south America. Her house was full of amazing things that she had collected over her many travels. I loved going to her house and asking her where she got all her wonderful souvenirs.

She's passed on now, and when she died she left two pieces of art like this one to my cousin Brent. Brent knowing how much i loved this particular one and being the amazingly nice and awesome cousin that he is; he gave it to me.

This is a piece of art my grandma got in Egypt. It is on papyrus and is so beautiful. The Egyptians really had many beliefs and parts of their religion that are similar to ours today.

It is called "The Tree of Life" because each bird represents a stage of life. It starts with the light green bird in the lower right hand corner than continues counter-clockwise.

• the light green bird symbolizes infancy
• the red bird symbolizes childhood
• the gray bird represents youth
• the black/yellow bird represents adulthood
• and the last bird represents old age

In ancient Egypt, the direction east was considered the direction of life because the sun rose in the east. West was thought to be the direction of death, of entering the under world because the sun set in the west. They believed that during the night, the sun traveled through the under world to make it's way back to the east so it could rise again on the next day.

Notice that on the tree of life, the four birds of life are all facing east, but the last bird that represents old age is facing west, in anticipation of death

Good thing i have my strong husbad to help me hang pictures!! :)

These are a few of my favorite things...

Favortie Thing #1 :
Lately, I have really been enjoying the food network channel. Growing up, I always thought watching someone cook on T.V. was the most pointless thing on the planet. Why watch someone cook, when you can just get the recipe and dive in and figure it out yourself?

However, my opinion has been changed. I LOVE watching the food network channel. I especially enjoy Barefoot Contessa, I think she's great. She's so earthy and her kitchen decor is by far my favorite out of all the shows the food network hosts. Not that the way her kitchen looks has anything to do with the way she or I cook... but it makes me feel clean. Which makes me like her food. Strange, I know.
Sometimes it can put me to sleep; the way the camera-men zoom in on parsley being chopped or a stew boiling... but recently I have been learning a lot and staying awake!

The other day Ina made these; pecan squares!
Here's the recipe
You'll probably want to cut the recipe in half. I did; and it still made A TON!

I realize hers look way better. That's just because of the fancy cameras they have. Trust me. :)
Brett and I really are enjoying them...
Brett has been going to the refrigerator a lot these past couple of days...
Favorite Thing #2:
Brett and I still had some gift cards, so as an investment and as a treat we got season five of the office. One of the best decisions we've ever made. Enough said.

Favorite Thing #3:

I can eat oatmeal every meal of every day. I know Julie can probably agree with me... It's SO good...in everything! I'm beginning to drool. These are the ways I eat it:

• pour some oats in a bowl and pour some milk over; eat and enjoy!
• open a yogurt and put a few spoonfuls of oats in...so good
• Top oatmeal with frozen fruit and milk and microwave
  
• Add some on top of any cereal I am eating
• also good in cookie dough...
  

Favorite Thing #4:
This is a little embarrassing, but my family already knows- I have an infatuation for feet pajamas. I've always thought they were they greatest invention. I like them so much in fact, that my good friend Brittany Mayer got them for me one Christmas.
Look Britt, i still where them! :)

I love how snuggly and warm you feel. Plus, they're so fun to run around in because they make you feel like your a kid again.

Favorite Thing #5: Whiskers on Kittens...
TEASIN!
If you havn't seen "The Sound of Music" in a while, then that probably wasn't very funny to you.

Riding Sherwin

Brett's work hosted a dutch-oven dinner last weekend.
So we went into the woods and dutch-ovened!!

This is such a cute picture!!

So G.Q.

This dog belonged to a guy that works with Brett. This dog follows his horses around and runs with them and comes back so tired...she's so cute!

Riding the horses was so much fun. I really like riding horses and i grew up riding my cousins every now and again. But i am still pretty cautious when I walk up to a horse for the first time.
I feel like it needs to get to know me before i just jump on it. I probably am a little to cautious...but still, better safe than sorry.

Not Kaley!! I continue to be amazed how that girl has no fear. I think it's because she grew up around boys. The guy who owns the horses was teasing/not teasing about the horse Kaley was about to jump on. He was telling Kaley that sometimes he bucks people off and can be a little sensitive. Kaley did not show any hesitance...she jumped on and was ready to go!!

The black one is "Blacky" and the brown and white one is "Sherwin Williams"

Pupkinlicious

Lately, This has been my favorite treat. Pumpkin Ice Cream, it's SOOO delicious!!
When Brett and I pick ice cream it usually takes us 15 minutes to decide on one. This is because he always wants the stuff loaded with chunks of candy bars and caramel and fake tasting stuff, and I want the yummy, natural flavored stuff. Like Pumpkin!!

This particular time we went, Brett was so nice and told me I can pick the ice cream. (Don't worry he ended up picking his own out also) So i picked this out. I highly recommend it, try it!

And the Winner Is...

The Seahorse!!
(if i had prizes they would go to Jill, Angie, Brooke and Mom)
congrats guys! :)

The Seahorse exhibit was amazing, i remembered hearing about this exhibit when they first came, so i was so thrilled when i saw they were still there. So now i am going to ramble on about seahorses and why they are so cool. Enjoy.

Seahorses always seemed so mythical and mystical to me, as i'm sure a lot of you would agree. And from these cool facts you'll see; they really are!!

• Seahorses' small dorsal fins propel them through the water almost as fast as a hummingbird flaps it's wings

• Seahorses change color to blend in with their surroundings

• When a Seahorse is looking for a mate they get a 'glittery glow' all over and utter musical sounds

• A seahorse will mate for life...and will mate under a full moon (sorry if that's pg-13!)

• THE MALE seahorse gets pregnant, and carries the babies for three weeks and undergoes 72 hour labor, and births about 200 live baby seahorses...COOL!!
  

• Seahorses like to swim in pairs, linked together by their tails

When a Seahorse is tired, they curl their tail around seaweed or something like it so they don't float away while they rest. Aren't they SO CUTE?!

I hope you guys enjoyed this little post about seahorses. I could go on and on but for the sake of reading i won't. BUT...
check out the seahorses cousin...
THE LEAFY SEA DRAGON!!!

This little guy is equally cool... research him if you have time :)

Penguins and Rays and Jellies oh my!!!

Our get a way to Monterey was a blast, it was so nice to be with Brett again. Brett and I both felt like we were hardly seeing each other, since he was pretty much working a 7am-6pm job, so this trip was fun. Brett makes me laugh so much and we just have so much fun together.

This is the beautiful Seven Gables Inn. When we first arrived Brett and I thought it was so cute. Then the guy that checked us in gave us a tour and we thought it was even cuter! (Brett never actually used the word 'cute' but I'm sure he was thinking it.)

We toured around and took some pictures...isn't it adorable?!
This is the view from our window. It wasn't a direct beach shot, but we had a great view of Lover's point!

Brett had told them when he first called that it was our 5 MONTH anniversary.
They apparently thought 5 years. We didn't mind...we still got a cute sign and free bath salts on the bed as a gift!!

After we checked in, the very first thing we did was head down to the beach. It was such a nice day, it was close to 80 degrees! We explored some tide pools, running into some un-friendly crabs, and Brett found these beautiful Sea Stars!

After tide pooling we walked a few blocks to down-town pacific grove. We found a fun Italian Resturaunt and decided to eat there. The food was yummy, but our waitor was kinda strange...he just seemed so bored with life and he seemed so bummed he had to be a waitor. We saw a picture later of the family who owns that restaraunt and realized this waitor was the son in the family. So we guessed he's around 28 years old and just so sad he's stuck being a waitor for mom and dad. Boo-hoo. He shoould still be a happy waitor!! A waitor can almost make or break a meal...i'm not sure i'd go back to the resteraunt, just beacause of this boo-hoo waitor!

This was one of the best parts. Brett kept poking fun at me because even though we went to dinner and walked around and had a nice night, I HAD to be back in the Bed & Breakfast lounge for free cookies and milk at 8pm! They were yummy peanut butter cookies...so worth rushing back for!

The next morning after a fun run/walk along the coast Brett and I enjoyed an excellent breakfast! There were eggs, pancakes, ham, oatmeal, fruit, breads and granola...it was so good!
We checked out after breakfast and began the mile walk to the aquarium

The aquarium was so much fun. We got there pretty early so it wasn't crowded yet. That's my only concern when going to a place like this. I don't like crowds and pushing through people and getting bumped and stepped on. Some exhibits at the aqauarium are so small and require you to read the explanatory plaque next to them that if there are a million people surrounding it by the time I finally get to the front I feel so much pressure to hurry that i don't really look at it!

Luckily, that didn't happen much on this trip. Of coarse it was a little crowded by the time we were leaving, but it wasn't bad and we had already visited things with small plaques. :)

This was one of our favortie things. Petting the bat rays! They're so soft and squishy and cute!

You can tell from this picture that crowds are starting! :)
The Kelp forest was Brett's favortie thing.

THIS was probably Brett's favorite thing. Going to Pebble Beach golf course. I have to admit it was really pretty along the coast and it's so cute to watch Brett's eyes light up!

We didn't know that there would be a tournmanet going on. Brett walked right by Tom Watson, who he tells me recenlty almost beat Tiger. We also watched Ben Crenshaw tee off...

For my next post I am going to blog about my favorite thing at the Aquarium, and things i learned about it. BUT...i want to keep everyone on their toes as to what it is! So, you get to choose from these three!
What was Emily's favortie exhibit?

• The Sea Otters
• The Sea Cucumbers
• The Sea Horses

???

GoLdFiSh tHoUgHtS

"Sometimes it's the little things that make life more fun like blowing bubbles or playing ball. If you stop and appreciate the little things you'll probably find yourself smiling a little bigger."
- Goldfishy Bag