life lately

i posted a new album to my shutterfly share site
(http://thesniderfamilyduo.shutterfly.com/)
here are a couple favs from my life lately:

the new me

school work.
moutain dew.
mac book.
----------------------

its the new me.
i started my class work today...
hoping it pays off in the end.
so far its just a whole lot of words i dont know.
we shall see how it goes.

i will say- it was kinda cool to have my teacher in a small lil box on the computer screen-
watching class- with my "word" document box open on the screen taking notes.
im thinking i could def get use to this....

lets cross our fingers i get into duke
and will be doing school for the next two years.
oh gee i hope. i hope. i hope.
ill find out soon...

off to enjoy the rest of the saturday with my sweet hubby.
hw. mexican dinner. movie.


love & peace
bort

diet...

... im on a diet.
its called... go to work for 12 hours.
run your booty off.
and dont eat.
for 12 hours.

yeahhhh.... i didn't think it was that good of an idea either.
but such is life.
work was crazy.
at 11 i looked down and realized... oh my. its 11pm and i have not had dinner.
oh well.
i ate some crackers, and continued working.

i came home at one, and just made the most delicious, egg, turkey & cheese english muffin.
perfection....
now about to hop in bed with my sweet hubby.... and sleep a lonnng while.

peace & love
bort

tired....

i woke up tired today.
work was exhausting yesterday.
i worked really hard, for 12 hours.
it was never ending.
never resting.
but somehow it was still a good day overall.

anyway, that still left me waking up tired today.
heavy eyes. and tired feet.
2 more 12 hour days left in my week.
EK!

im currently cuddled up in our duke snuggie, playing on blogs, and watching the health care summit. its very interesting and im intrigued to find out what ends up happening..

well hope your thursday finds you well.
love & peace
bort

sewing sweetness

have i ever told you i like to sew?
well really i love it.
i love the challenge- with the awesome end result.
i love getting in the zone- and being there.
i love thinking things through, figuring out which stitch to use & where-
thinking about how to attach things and what to leave open so i can flip it through-
i love that my sewing machine was a gift from my grandma-
and my knowledge of how to sew... also a gift from her.
i dont remember a time in my life when i didn't know how to sew.
i was the first (and for 12 years the only) granddaughter so i think i just got "stuck" learning... but loved every minute of it.
at this point in my life i have time to sew, and for that im so grateful.

like i said earlier today, i spent a lot of time looking for a case for my computer online, when i realized i could soooo make one.
so thats what i did.
i spent a couple hours in my sewing room- and this is the end result... and im THRILLED!!!


::the outside is a great bright green pattern::
the inside lined with white flannel and a bright pink pattern

here you can see the white flannel, which is on both sides, just the one has pink also (since its a flap)
here you can also see the lil attachment to attach the strap (in case you want to carry it over the shoulder)

my pretty mac in her new home

and here is the back complete with a pocket
for that extra pen, or perhaps the charger, or even a notecard or two

yayyyyy!!!
my laptop has a home!
and this home will keep her safe, until i get a hard plastic shell

anyway.... hope you have a wonderful wednesday
im off to read before i hop in my warm bed

love & peace
bort

happy

i really love this computer.
its been fan-tab-u-lous

and today ive had such a nice day-

slept in.
spent some time with the hubs.
played on the comp.
read some goodness.
then searched online for a comp case.
i started in etsy... and realized.
omg.
i can sooooo make that.
so i left my house and went to joann's fabric shop.
bought some fabric.
came home.
found an awesome "how to make a computer case for the macbook".
and started making one.
im quite far along... then the bro in law came by.

so now we are all sitting around on our comps-
talking and hanging out.
mere is coming over....
and im looking forward to a good enjoyable family night.

:) hope you are doing well out there...

love & peace
bort

monday thanks

as with every monday there are so many things to be thanful for...

here is what the journal has for this past week:

...the sounds of birds chirping.... and the promise that spring will be here soon
.... finding a treasure
....wearing a skirt!
.... the smiling face of a dear friend
.....67degree weather!
... the winter olympics
... curling
... finishing the stupid fafsa
... spending time & being excited with mere
... free lunch after church
... then free leftovers (and i mean platters and platters of food, all just given to us)
... spending the morning writing a sermon with ryan
... a nice helpful funny guy at the apple store when we
GOT OUR NEW MACS!!!
... yes. im thankful for our mr. & mrs. matching macbooks
... the student discount we got on both
... the FREE office (word, xcel, etc) we got from duke
... and the free laptop case and covers we are getting with a giftcard leftover from christmas
...talking on ichat with my bestest friend
..................

our lives have been forever changed.
already seen the magic of this lil computer.
between ichat, "faces" on iphoto, the magical spotlight, and soooo much more. its just amazing.
and something i am very thankful we were able to do.

love & peace to all of you out there.
hope your rainy ?!? monday is as good as ours.


oh... and keep the middle brother in your prayers.
he knocked part of his front tooth out, getting a root canal today and they are going to like "rebuild" his tooth?!? just thinking lots of pain. and crappiness. and especially since its his FRONT tooth- it needs to look decent ya know! poor guy. his name is rich.
he is the one on the right.
thankkkks

peaceful

ive cut two things out of my life...
and the two past days have been the most peaceful, soothing days i can remember.
no tv means i hear birds! i hear the wind! i see the SUNSHINE!
and i read... a lot. which is a GREAT thing.
and i exercise.
and spend time with the Lord.
and well without facebook, life is just better. hahaa....
i spend probably 90% LESS time on my computer than i did before.
its just refreshing to read. ponder. listen to my husband. enjoy tv time with him alone in the evenings (thats when tv is ok, if enjoying it with family/friends)
life is good. granted its only 2 days in, and i may be getting bored in the coming weeks, but for now, its goooooood.

a few "announcements" to make via blog.
1. ryan & i are getting new computers... excited is an understatement. we are THRILLLLED. its time... for BOTH of us.

2. im enrolled in school. no not duke. (at least not yet) but the University of New England. sounds cool huh!?!?! :) it is a great school apparently, and they have this AWESOME distance learning program. so i can take statistics online through them. and its not just statistics, but stats for the healthcare professional, which im HOPING will make it much much better. although looking at the syllabus im a bit nervous! ill start within the next 7-10days. its online/via DVD. i watch classes via DVD then do HW and projects and turn them in online.

3. i found a HUTCH! ive been looking for MONTHS for a hutch/cabinet/piece of furniture for our lil "dining area". i didn't want to spend a lot of money on it, but i wanted it to be nice and something we could use in our possibly numerous, random houses down the road.
i went into our "habitat hand me up store" (used furniture and STUFF store) where ALLLL the money goes to habitat for humanity. and i found the perfect piece.
its a corner hutch.
pretty wood.
glass doors up top.
wooden doors at the bottom to hide crap.
and its soooo pretty.
and right now our dishes look GREAT in it, but i can so see us using it for anything!
it was a FANTASTIC price. and a good friend helped me move it for free!
such a hidden treasure! wooohooooo

the end... i may go for a walk now. its GORGEOUS outside.

love & peace
danielle

excited...

about my BIRTHDAY!
its still a few weeks away, but just thinking about it gets me excited.
even a lil giddy inside.

so for birthdays- ry & i have decided we will do mini trips.
why buy presents when we can just go somewhere, get away for a weekend, and it will be far more meaningful and memorable!

for his bday you may remember we went to raleigh for a night and enjoyed a concert and a realllllllly nice hotel.

so for my birthday.... we are going to asheville!
to the biltmore!!
and are staying in an awesome, precious bed & breakfast!!

oh my goodness.
im so excited.
just looking at the pics of the b&b get me excited.
lil creek outside, mountains, beautiful gardens
mmmmmmmmmm
:)

it will be the PERFECT relaxing weekend for the two of us!

monday thanks

so many things in life to be thankful for.
right now its...

.... my sewing machine
.... my completed wedding quilt
.... the snow
... the sunshine after it snows
.... the winter olympics
... the way my husband makes me laugh (right after he does something to make me mad- it makes me realize how ridiculous im being)
...the way my husband hugs me realllllly tight
.... the hug i always get before he / or me leaves for work/school
... fresh flowers
... new books
... duke finding my transcript (after sending TWO) under my maiden name
.... 25$ biltmore estate tickets
.... a relaxing trip to the mountains coming up soon
... a job that i enjoy (most of the time)
.... my vaccuum
... a new warm & cozy comforter
... made from the box red velvet cake
... a good relaxing weekend off

love & peace
bort

i love...

my family...

my bestest friend in the whole world...
(and while we are at it, the lake)

my awesomely sweet, super funny, kindhearted, studly HUSBAND...
(i still love saying that)

the latino culture and their awesome language...

the beach...

my life.

happy Sunday...

love & peace

apologies

looking back over that last blog of mine, i may have gotten a bit winded.
sorry it was so dreadfully long!

this is just to say-
its snowing outside.
im super excited for my friends back in GEORGIA who have gotten a sweet taste of snow- even SAVANNAH!! thats just craziness!! we have around 2 or 3 inches. and its still peacefully falling.
coming home so early in the morning (or late at night) let me see the snow- so perfect and pretty. before people/kids trampse around in it. still beautifully blanketing the earth beneath.
the one MAJOR benefit to living in north carolina-
when it snows we are slightly (OK drastically ) more equipped.
all of our major roads have been treated, to decrease the icing (which i will say not a bit of ice- and there are 2 perfect lanes open for travel) once you get off the big roads you can see the huge difference.
and we have snow plows. that alone makes a world of a difference.
the plows were out doing there thing on my way home from work... and it made me very grateful to be HERE enjoying the snow... and not in ga. where a snow plow does not even exist in a dictionary. i also have ice scrappers in all of our cars and NOT KIDDING a coworker has a 'snow brush' that we used to brush off all the snow on our cars before we drove home.
fantab-u-lous.

ok. well i need to settle down so i can hop in bed.
my day tomorrow consists of a lazy saturday.
:) mmmmm

love & peace
bort

finally

i dont really know why i have not blogged in almost a week.

there is not good reason.

the hubs said yesterday, 'babe. you are a lil behind on the blogging'.

this is true.

and actually a lot has occurred this past week.

lets see how much i can remember.

well last weekend i spent more time sewing my quilt. on tuesday i was FINALLY FINISHING IT!! sewing the batting in- which is the stuffing basically. after i spent 2 hours sewing it all together. i go to 'flip it the right way' and realize the batting/stuffing isn't stuffed in the middle. its actually ON THE OUTSIDE.

terror. anger. sadness. all overwhelmed me.

i threw the quilt down... and was mad.

wednesday i picked it up and started picking it apart. i have to pull it ALL back a part. i have succeeded in pulling 3/4 of it a part. so just a lil more, THEN i can SEW IT ALL BACK TOGETHER.

darn thing.

oh well. the plan is to finish it THIS WEEKEND!

and fingers crossed, ill do just that.

****

in other amazing news- lost is back on.

and my tuesdays are devoted to that.

gosh i LOVE that show.

******

hmmm. oh i have officially FILED OUR TAXES!

twice i might add.

the first time i didnt' have our 2008 PIN number. i was like what the heck. i didn't realize it was a NECESSITY, until i got an e-mail from the IRS stating that i need to refile with the appropriate PIN number.

i thought it was asking me to MAKE one... not remember one from a year ago. luckily its super easy to find out your PIN on the IRS website... i got that task done, and am hoping i did it right. im so worried! what if the IRS comes after us? we are just 2 poor kids- and we have a great return coming- im just hoping its not "too great" that its wrong!

and we are planning on spending it for our education... sorta. 2 new computers please! to help us BOTH in our educational journey's....

*****

probably the biggest and BEST news of all is that

DUKE beat unc (yeah. they dont even get to be capitalized)

i had one of the BEST NIGHTS EVER last night- hanging out at this HUGE restaurant that was basically built for the duke/unc game.

ry & i met up with 8 other awesome div students to watch the game in this packed out place. it was SOOO fun. we were doing all the duke cheers; yelling so loud; clapping; gosh. sooo fun!

*******

oh. tonight at work is a big night for me.

first night in triage.

and for those who dont know- its a daunting task- being the first person people see when they come into the ER. figuring out who is the sickest. dealing with people yelling at you because someone who (could literally be dying) is going back before they are (and they are here for a sore throat). its unbelievable up here. luckily i have a lot of support from my coworkers, so they are helping me out lots.

********

and lastly i suppose- i finished my book.

eat,pray,love.

favorite book. im itching to read the next one.

and actually a few other of her books. i love the author- and am interested to see if her other stuff is a similar style to this one.

*****

i did just order a lenten book for the lenten season- so coming wednesday ill start that. im quite excited about it. ill keep you posted with any good 'reads' i come across. its a book compiled for numerous entries. all from different famous writers & theologians & awesome people (like mother theresa) throughout time.

*****

august is coming up (sorta) and im planning our anniversary trip. im SUPER excited. (thats the other place our tax refund is going) i have looked at 100 different things, and knowing that we have to be back in durham 6 days after our anniversary for another snider wedding, we will prob be going before the anniversary. i am going to make a few phone calls in the coming weeks- so i dont want to throw out our most current plan, but im realllly excited about it. worst comes to worst- i mean we will be at the OUTER BANKS the weekend after our anniversary. im pretty sure we could go a week early and celebrate all week on the beach.

******

and finally- i suppose i should update you on the school status.

the update is: there is no update.

haven't heard anything.

good or bad.

ill be making a few phone calls soon to try and find something out.

oh and one more thing.

if you think about it- throw some prayers up for ryan.

school basically sucks.

his work sucks. papers suck. classes suck. he just needs some good old happiness/joy in his life. more than what i can give him. so be praying for him. and us. :)

OH GEEZ i almost forgot something thats great for both of us!

i am changing shifts!

11-11~

so ill see my hubby now!!

no more 3am nights. thankfully!!!

its going to be sooooo nice.

ok well thats a TON of rambling.

i think i wrote a book.

but thats my life lately.

and for all of THAT i am grateful.

love & peace

bort

friday night

due to an overly SLOW friday night at work...
i was blessed to leave 4 hours early!

so i came home...
hopped in a hot bath, grabbed a glass of wine, and read my favorite book.
it was AMAZING.
and really.... this book (eat.pray.love) is my new favorite book.
at least top 5.
im CRAZY about it, and can't put it down.

my saturday consists of...
WORK.
boooooooooo.
but oh well.
im hoping for a lil "sunday surprise" action with ryan tomorrow.
im going to try and create a fun lil day with him.
we shall see what i come up with.

i woke up this morning
(at 1145... woahh)
anyway. i woke up and its snowing. :)
this time just a light, fat snowflakes, fall.
and its not sticking.... which is good.
we still have plenty little spots here and there.

well i hope you have a fantastic weekend!

LOVE & PEACE
rdms

still surprised

when i walk by a window- or step outside- or even when i am driving down the street-

i get caught off guard by the snow.
it still surprises me- and puts a smile on my face.

granted, the high yesterday was 50!
it was gorgeous...
but still. snow on the ground.
its going away, but in the spots where snow is piled up high
(like in parking lots where they plowed)
its still there.
sooooo crazy.

but i will say i LOVE it.
possibly more snow this weekend... and actually in the coming week.
i dont think it will be ANYTHING like this past weekend.

so over the past few days ive enjoyed my time off...
i have baked.
cooked.
done lots of laundry.
started a new book that im in LOVE with (eat-pray-love)
AND best of all... started my quilt!
if you attended my wedding you may recall the fabric i asked my guests to sign...

well i have FINALLY started the quilt and FINISHED THE TOP!!
granted my quilt is a bit different than the "traditional" quilt... but nonetheless its a quilt and its AWESOME. even ryan said "better than i expected" hahaa... oh geez.
anywayyyy this is a terrible quality picture (from the phone) but you can see the top all sewn together. that middle large khaki square piece is getting a lil special addition.
ill show you the finished product using a MUCH better camera soon!




in other news...
mere & colin picked a date
which is super exciting.
august is a good month to have a wedding in my opinion!
and its on the outer banks so it will be beautiful!

thats enough for now i suppose...

love & peace
bort

quickie

i posted a blog yesterday... only problem it didnt' post.
it got lost... in the blog world. DARN the luck.
it was my thankful list too for the week.
and i made it colorful and spent too much time on it...
thus i am not doing it again.

oh well.
still tons of snow on the ground.
roads are better- but in the neighborhoods a disaster.
supposed to be freezing rain all day today.
more snow next weekend.
i have TWO days off... woooo.
where i plan to sew some more (that is if my sewing machine will fix itself)
read some
relax
and clean.

most exciting thing coming up...
LOST PREMIERE TONIGHT!!
the best show EVER.... is starting its final season... tonight... and im PUMPED! :)

anyway. thats my lovely life. haha...
love & peace
bort