Use Your Brain and Donate Free Rice!

You trivia lovers will appreciate this...a site which for every correct answer donates 10 grains of rice to hungry countries. It costs you nothing except some brain cell activity (aww, come on...it's good for you!). Check it out here!

Free Rice

P.S. I contributed 1020 grains of rice today. You?

The First Annual Stavenger Oscar Party

I made a comment early Sunday about how I wish I had an Oscar party to go to (Jenny Platt...I miss you!). He said, "you do! The Stavenger Oscar party, hosted by me!" Well, my "host" ended up on the computer for over half of it, but I'm not complaining- he watched a bit with me, which was more than I was expecting (I bribed him with an Oreo dessert). To make it more...um...interactive, I gave us each a sheet of aluminum foil so that we could make Oscars for each other.

Mine was a skillfully crafted Oscar man resembling my husband.

I got a piece of foil folded in half with an amoebic heart on top.

I loved the Oscars this year- I thought the set design was really cool, and the presentations were unique. We also were glad that "Slumdog Millionaire" got it's due recognition. We saw it on Saturday and thought it was a great story, creatively presented. Glad it received so many accolades!

What was your take on the Oscars?

The San Francisco Treat!

Chris pried me away from the computer (where I've been the last month tending to my course studies) for a Valentine's Day weekend in California- San Francisco, to be exact. Now, I wasn't expecting sun, or even warmth (I've been to SF many times, after all), but I wasn't expecting the deluge of water from the sky! It put a bit of a *damper* on our outdoor sightseeing! But a little rain didn't stop us from seeing the good stuff in the City!

Here's the whole bunch of us in Union Square- my parents, us, and Chris' parents.

We enjoyed a very yummy lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, joined by friends Karen, Christa and Mikey.

After seeing a fantastic production of "Wicked" at the Orpheum, we enjoyed a classy meal for our Valentine's dinner.

We sauntered over to Pier 39 to look around, but ended up taking cover from the rain in a couple stores- stopped long enough to ogle at the sea lions, and then got the heck out of there! Above is our best sea lion impression.

Next stop: Alcatraz. The tumultuous waves in the bay made for an interesting boat ride...

In the slammer.

Back on shore, we got up close and personal with the Golden Gate Bridge!

(By this time, I had "wet dog" hair- thanks, but no thanks for the rain.)

For a much more extensive picture album, check out my Facebook page!

Breaking Up the Winter Blues

Hi folks! There's an ice storm a-brewin', so school has been canceled for today. So, I guess I can throw a blog out there for ya. Yesterday we were making our way back home from a quick trip to Moorhead to celebrate our nephew's birthday. As we closed in on Duluth, I was totally enamored with the full moon hanging over the sea of trees at dusk. It was beautiful. I was waiting for a loon to come flying across, leaving it's shadow against the sunset and completing the picturesque scene.
It was a great weekend with family.

This was the first of a string of weekends marked by travel. On Valentine's Day weekend, we'll be traveling to the great San Francisco...spending just enough time there to do some sightseeing with my in-laws, visit with my parents, and see the musical production "Wicked".

At the beginning of March, our travel commences once again with a road trip to Kansas! Chris has always dreamed of going to a Kansas University basketball home game...so I'm indulging him on this one! We're making the loooong drive down for the game, and heading back all in the same day.






Wrapping up March travel (so we hope!) is our pilgrimmage to the State Hockey Tournament in the Minneapolis. Chris' family attends this event often...it will be a first for me. I'm still getting used to all the hockey hype around these parts!

Don't Waste Your Life

I may have posted this before, but it bears repeating. I love this quote from John Piper's book, Don't Waste Your Life:

"You don't have to know a lot of things for your life to make a lasting difference in the world. But you do have to know a few great things that matter, perhaps just one, and then be willing to live for them and die for them. People who make a durable difference in the world are not the people who have mastered many things, but who have been mastered by one great thing. If you want your life to count, if you want the ripple effect of the pebbles you drop to become waves that reach the ends of the earth and roll on into eternity, you don't have to have a high I.Q. You don't have to have good looks or riches or come from a fine family or a fine school. Instead, you have to know a few great, majestic, unchanging, obvious, simple, glorious things- or one great all-embracing thing- and be set on fire by them."