Naturally Optimistic

A yearly tradition - although in the 3 1/2 years I've been paired with MariAnna, we've only managed to go to one of the games. Tonight was #2! We started the evening by eating a lot of Sammy's Pizza & having a great conversation. I also gave her her belated Christmas gift. I was quite proud of myself - using only what I had already in the house, I put together a fantastic collection of arts/crafts supplies! Supplies to make cards, scrapbook, whatever - including - card stock, ribbons, beads, stickers, patterned paper, envelopes, a glue stick, charcoal, pastels, paint brushes, clips, mini-tapes, cute post-it notes, embellishments, foam stickers, & a couple of penguin cutesy things (she loves penguins). See, I'm feeling the economic pinch and would rather spend time with her making things & laughing & chatting than buy her something that she doesn't need/want/won't use/will get lost in her house in 5 minutes, etc....so this worked very well. I also...

Me & Miss M Our 2nd Match of the Month! Here's the article: January is National Mentoring Month and Mentor Duluth would like to highlight a few of its outstanding matches. THIS WEEK, CONGRATULATIONS TO: Carrie and MariAnna MATCH BACKGROUND: Carrie and MariAnna have been matched through Neighborhood Youth Services for 2½ years. ACTIVITIES: Together they have tried many activities. They don’t ever seem to have a hard time finding things to do. Sometimes just hanging out together at Carrie’s house, eating dinner, baking, playing games, doing art projects or playing with Dahlia, Carrie’s new baby, makes the perfect evening. Carrie and MariAnna’s favorite thing to do is art of any kind. Art activities that they have done together include collages, card- making, drawing, painting and knitting. One of their favorite trips this fall was visiting the zoo and having a picnic. They also enjoy many other activities, such as going to plays, visiting parks, watching movies or going on hikes...

Dahlia in her party dress. The weekend, once again, flew by MUCH too quickly. I mean really? Two days off and five days on? Who thought this was a good idea? (okay okay, don't answer that - clearly the people working seven days on thought it was GREAT!)...I digress... Friday night...we had a pick up shoot for WHITE MAN'S WORLD at my house. It involved Jason & our actress Kris, Pat our makeup guru and myself. Mostly Pat & I sipped cocktails & discussed religion & philosophy while the scene was being shot. I dug it! The scene went great it was a fun night. Pat LOVES Dahlia so it was nice that they got to spend some quality time together. Dahlia slept til 7:15am on Saturday! Whohoo! THAT rocked my world. The rest of the day was spent putzing around, more ADR work for GOD ROCKS and Dahlia's first birthday party! It was for our friends' little girl Claira who was turning 3. There was a lot of commotion - gave us a glimpse as to what we're in for in a cou...

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We had our first snowfall this morning. It was such a treat to wake up and see the frosty whiteness. The trees are gorgeous. It's not much and I'm sure it'll disappear but it's very refreshing, nonetheless. Last night Miss M & I went to see BEE MOVIE . I thought it was very cute. I loved the animation and the story - although silly - was nice. Miss M & I had a lot of time to sit and chat which was good. She's so darn cute. Next week we're going to the Mentor Duluth 10-Year Anniversary celebration so that'll be another opportunity to catch up with her.

Last night I hung out with Miss M. We made banana bread ("I just looooooooooooove banana bread.") We had a very nice time. We also finished watching Shrek (the first one) and ate dried beef on toast for dinner. I'm hoping that one of these days will be nice so we can put our seedlings into the garden outside! Maybe next time. Last night was a good night for staying in and doing warm kitchen activities!

To celebrate Earth Day last Saturday, I had intended on participating in the city's "Clean & Green" program with Miss M (my mentee). Saturday rolled around, however, and we found ourselves to be deluged in April Showers. And very cool temps. So instead of chucking the whole idea out the window, I enlisted Miss M to help me start my seeds...which we did inside. We planted peppers, mini-pumpkins, spearmint, rosemary, marigolds, ornamental grass and two kinds of sunflowers. The most fun, however, was digging in the dirt. At first I thought Miss M was going to chicken out and use the little shovel the whole time...but I didn't push her and as I got my hands dirty - slowly but surely - so did she! By the end of our planting session she said "I just LOVE digging in the dirt." I'm hoping this leads to more joint gardening projects this summer. I am looking forward to tending to this plants with her and watching our hard work produce some great results! Righ...

I went to the Circus tonight with my mentee, Miss M. I have some thoughts.... 1) I don't think I can go to circuses any more. 2) Monkeys, albeit incredibly adorable while dressed up, are SUPPOSED to jump from high thing to high thing in the air. It's not that "amazing" or "outstanding." Cute? Yes. But it also makes me sad that they're jumping from pole to pole instead of treet to tree. 3) All of the lovely ladies of Eastern Europen descent were not only the aerial artists (some of which is pretty cool, others just kind of sad...) also manned the "rides" before, at intermission and after the circus. Spinning by your neck one minute, placing a giant snake around a patron's neck for a $7 polaroid the next. Also leading tiny ponies & air brushing "tattoos" on people's faces. 4) The big cats were gorgeous but also looked TOTALLY pissed off to have Yurgey snapping that whip at them. I don't blame them. 5) During the metal sp...

I was comparing my mentee to Jackson Pollock on my other blog and found this site which is SO VERY FUN. And yes, I'm a dork.

Miss M & I spent the day on the North Shore Scenic railroad and then at the (world's lamest) "secret pumpkin patch." More details tomorrow over here .