atypical, but normal :)

I just wanted to add a quick -Praise God- update.
Last week I had a mole removed from my back that was atypical in color, size and edging.
It was sent off to be examined and I got a letter back stating that even though it was atypical, it is not cancerous!
Yeah God :)
Happy Valentine's day too

Updates...new job, art and pizza!

I started a new job January 14th and it is going really well.

I teach preschool at a home day care center and also help out with the younger kids the rest of the day. We do lots of art project but also work on numbers, writing and learn new songs etc.
It can get pretty loud at times and sometimes I'm pretty tired when I get home, but I truly love the kids and really enjoy the job!

Praise God for this opportunity and providing once again! Thanks so much to everyone who prayed too!

I've also been working on my art on the weekends and really enjoying that outlet. Here are two of the latest paintings I've been working on.

still working on it(below)
I've also been enjoying trying new pizza recipes-I took a basic(no yeast) pizza dough recipe and added spices such as oregano, basil, salt, pepper, onion and garlic powder and then Parmesan cheese into the dough for extra flavor.(see below) I made one pesto pizza(use pesto as base sauce) with mozzarella, ham, onions and tomatoes. I also invented a Margarita pizza, where I added some lemon juice and diced jalopenos on top of the pizza dough(baked it for a while) and then followed a basic mozzarella, garlic, basil, tomatoes and ham on top.this is the pesto pizza-yummy!

Ahhhh goals and exercise...

Well, for many of you this will not be an exciting post, but for some it might be relevant.
I'm posting about my goals in hopes that 1. it will help me keep them better(since I want to post about it weekly) and 2. that perhaps it will help/inspire someone else to do the same :)

I have come to the point where I am dangerously close(4lbs away) to the most I have ever weighed and that means that a large majority of my clothes are not really fitting anymore(sniff-sniff).
So, I am setting some new fitness and health goals to CHANGE my routine and lifestyle(no-this is NOT a new year's resolution :) (ok I had to add a picture-since no post is complete without pictures-this is in Curacao-for those of you who don't know me-I specifically gained most of my weight in my butt, love handles, thighs and middle-luckily my shirt and the way I am standing help disguise)

Currently I weigh(as of yesterday) a whole 16 lbs more than a year ago and that weight is about 8 lbs more than I weighed when we moved to IL in Aug 2005. That adds up to a grand total of 24 lbs that I have gained in 3 years-so as you can see, it is time for a change!
I hope to set one new challenge for myself each week for a total of 10 weeks and update my progress weekly.

(and here is a funny pic of Craig jumping into the pool-just because)Jason has helped me set a reward(yeah-I love rewards!)-a new dress for a fabulous wedding we are going to at the end of April. The goal is to lose just over 1 pound a week for 10 weeks.

(ok this is also from Curacao and we were all goofing off trying to take pictures of us jumping into the swimming pool-I look goofy)

This weeks goal-well ok, I have two for this week:
1.to keep a food diary and keep tract of calories
2.to go to the gym at least 3 times a week
(actually USE my gym membership-what a novel idea :)

Ok here are two more goofy pics of Jason also jumping into the pool :)
I promise to add newer pics of myself next time...

Underwater images

Jason just did a great job blogging some more about Curacao, so here are some of the underwater photos that were taken.
The first couple are of us swimming by the tugboat and then some of the fish we saw.

The sunken tugboat

a sole doing it's camouflage trick-they change colors-really spiffy!

one that is more yellow now and more visible

a sea snake that Craig and I saw and Craig tried to grab-it wasn't vicious-more scared and wanted to get away from us-this great picture Craig took-we all took turns taking photos, though Craig's were generally the best-yeah Craig!)

cool colored sea creatures

a large puffer fish with cool eyes

a different puffer fish-much smaller

huge schools of thousands of small fishies we swam thorugh

a cuttle fish- they are super fast and hard to see, since they can look almost transparent and also change their colors

a cool black and yellow fishy

Curacao Visit

We just got the film pictures from Curacao back, which I (Jason) took, so I thought I'd blog a bit about the trip.

It was a really fun trip, and it provided some well needed relaxation time. I tried to do a number of things every day: fish, snorkel and eat fish. Hiking was also a high priority for me. The every-day tasks I set for myself, I accomplished pretty much everyday. (Eating fish I did more than once a day sometimes.) Chantal previously posted some pictures of the fish we caught.

We had an underwater box for pa's camera, so we got some nice pictures while snorkeling, but we haven't posted any yet.

Just prior to going to Curacao, I bought myself a new lens for my camera. It's a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AF. I got it used for a really good deal from The Camera Company in Madison. I was so excited about using it. I think it really did well. I want to post some of the pictures that I am most proud of from the trip. (I'm trying to convince myself that I'm a decent photographer. :) )

One day, we went to Willemstad, which is the capital of Curacao. There's a fruit stand market there along the waterfront. We bought a coconut, some banana leaves, oranges, guavas and maybe something else. The coconut and banana leaves we used to make a sauce and to grill, respectively, some chicken and some fish. It was really good. A picture of the market is to the right.

Another day, we took a free boat ride from the resort down to Willemstad to the waterfront, so we got to see a lot of the oceanfront houses and buildings along the way. The guide pointed out some of the more historical/notable features, which was nice. Chantal also got to enjoy free chips and salsa. :) This trip also afforded me the opportunity to get some good pictures of the resort (see left).

We did a little bit of hiking one day when we drove to another beach. I forgot which one it was though. We went and hiked up a hill to a ridge overlooking a secluded beach with a small hut/building on it. We had to scramble down the hillside to get to it, which involved sliding and grabbing trees at times. It was worth it though. We saw some pretty large iguanas there. To the right you can see a picture I took of the beach through some brush.

Although this wasn't from our trip to Curacao, I wanted to mention that before we left, my parents took us to see the Madison Symphony's Christmas concert. It was spectacular. The music was great, and I really enjoyed the sing-a-long beforehand. It really helped make it feel like Christmas. I had just gotten my new lens earlier that day, and I wanted to try it out. The picture to the left was one of the results. In case it's not clear what it is, this is a picture from inside the Overture Center of Christmas lights hung from the ceiling along the windows with the Capitol building lit up in the background. After seeing this picture, I know choosing such a high-speed lens was a great choice.