things that made me happy these past two weeks . . .

- i rearranged my bedroom. it's like a whole new world.

- i died my hair back dark. it appears black, but it will fade a little to a really dark brown. i'm excited because i can wear lipstick again! my red hair made most of my make-up colors look wrong on my face.

- sunday afternoon we watched phantom of the opera  and mary poppins. afton was enthralled with both. she particularly liked the masquerade scene and the dancing chimney sweeps.

- place small pretzels on a cookie sheet, put a rolo on top of each pretzel, put it in the oven (low heat) for a few minutes, just enough to get the rolo softened, pull it out, push an m&m into the top of the rolo and let it cool. enjoy.

- cherry icee

- receiving packages in the mail

- seeing les miserables on stage again. still my favorite.

- dragon boat festival - an unexpected bonus to our weekend in victoria, bc. i totally want to be on a dragon boat team, but there aren't any locally (i checked). i want to be the person at the front yelling at everyone. i just know i'd be brilliant at it!

- butchart gardens. you should check it out yourself sometime.

- canadians. seriously. they're so nice.

- outdoor concerts

- cities by the water

- flowers

- tea and scones

- irish and scottish themed pubs in victoria

- street performers

- scarf and cardigan weather in august.

- not getting seasick. i was a bit anxious that i might get queasy on the three-hour ferry ride from seattle to victoria after my bad ferry experience in greece, but i was fine. not even the slightest tinge of unwellness. (others weren't quite as lucky)