zola in september

Every once in a while, Mark proves himself an artist with gems such as this:



The video camera he wanted before Viola was born just paid for itself.

new favorite

Funniest math cartoonist ever.

fave

This picture of my mom and dad when they were first starting their lives together reminds me of Mark's Valentine's Day gift to me... He reminded me of the times when we were young, naive, and silly in love.

Mark and I think that Valentines Day is for people who suck at expressing their love and appreciate for each other every other day of the year. We don't celebrate it, in other words. But, because it has been harder to find the time for dates, thank yous, and because we are both pulled at both ends by the demands of life... this year we both gave each other something. Ironically, we gave each other almost exactly the same surprise. We told each other the story of us, in our own way. I gave him a small picture book with every picture ever taken of both of us together along with a little children's story of mom & dad that he can read to our girls, and I told him that he could name the new baby the name he likes. He gave me a long, eloquent, deeply personal love letter telling me about how our history together has shaped our future to be awesome... and the ends says that we should name the new baby the name I like.

Now we both have insight into how our lives have impacted each other and still no clue what to call our new little one.

my own personal nerdfest

This is what northern california looks like. ^

This is what I did while I was there...^

And this is who I saw.^

When I got home, Monish went to Home Depot with me to help me get a tree. I give Monish full credit for the perfect Noble Fir he found for me. And I got my Martha Stewart on.