Sherwood Forrest Faire

Hello and Happy Saturday!

So, this will be my 2nd time writing this posting as Blogger totally just deleted my draft right before I was about to publish this and so now I must start over. Irritation has definitely set in and I am thinking it's already time to consider another source for my blog than Blogger. Anyways, I digress...

So, last weekend Ben and I took our friend to the Sherwood Forrest Faire. We love going to this Ren-faire and this was our 2nd year to go. Typically we spend all day at the faire. We just wake up and hit the road to the faire until the sun goes down then we head back home. Everything we need is at the faire and who wouldn't love hanging out in nature all day! I just can't resist spending the day with fresh air and surrounded by 23 acres of forrest. It's the most relaxing and fun day that we look forward to each year. Although we don't dress up for the Ren-faire, I have a good feeling that will be happening soon. Regardless, I love getting to meet all of the Lords and Ladies, Knights, Wenches  and other oddly sorts. Let's see we got to see Robin Hood, Maid Marian, Friar Tuck, fairies (even a cow fairy), jesters, a caveman, and many others.

One of the best things about this Ren-faire is that it's so laid back, you have the whole day to get around the camp and see shows, drink at the pub, sit around the fire, and enjoy great food. I love being able to spend the day without my phone, computer, and TV and just get out in nature without having to spend the day driving every where we need to go. Here are some photos of our trip to the Sherwood Forrest Faire....

(Oh, and I am working on getting a video together too...be sure to check back on that once I get it posted.)

Ben and I sitting in the King's chair at the Knight's Round Table

Ben and I enjoying some good brew and a Turkey leg...like the bull horn :)

I got to be a knight too!

You can't go to the Sherwood Forrest Faire and not get a Turkey Leg!

I guess everyone eats theirs differently ^_^

Some Friends from the Faire...

Our Friend Tom who is as red as a tomato after getting a kiss from a girl 

It wasn't this girl, but you have gotta love Link!

I missed the photo earlier, but this is Francois....Ben and him and a nice embrace earlier in the day ;)

Ben and his Foxy friend...this guy was super awesome!!

Some of the Shows...

We had to go see Fancois in the Combat Tournament...and I got to be a judge for the battles!

Francois fighting his opponent...

Actually, Francois won!

We of course had to see the Joust!

This was our knight, William

And his Clydesdale

William won the Joust!!

We also saw the Washing Well Wenches...this was awesome, can't you tell!

Ben got to be in the show too....look out for this video soon!

Just so you have an idea of what he got to do....

And this is how the show ended...it was the best event of the day!

We also stopped by the Mud Show

Gotta love it!

Of course we waited for the fire show at the end of the day...this was super cool this year!

 Some other activities...

Ben and our friend working on their archery skills.

I really enjoyed this band Vana Mazi

Ben did the Axe and Knife throw...this is a challenge

He almost hit the guy...so close

My favorite part of the experience is sitting around the fire and enjoying some music and dancing

I hope that you enjoy these photos and I will keep working on the video for you to enjoy. In the meantime, I need to post this before I lose it again :(

Until Next Time...

New Camera and Laptop

Hello and Happy Sunday!

Sorry for the lack in Caturday yesterday, but Ben and I were with our friend at the Sherwood Forrest Faire. When we go, it's usually an all day and night event so we weren't able to get much done besides waking up and hitting the road then getting home and hitting the hay. I will be posting up photos and a few videos of our fun experience this year at the faire so be sure to look out for this soon.

In the meantime, I wanted to post about my new toys. As you know, I have finally invested in a new laptop. It arrives arrived recently and it has been well worth the price so far. I am amazed that I haven't picked it up sooner. In case you are wondering I got the Samsung Series 5 Ultrabook. You can learn more about the specs here.

I love the touch screen capabilities. I often find myself navigating though things with the keyboard and the touchscreen without even thinking about it. This laptop has been great for everything that I need, at least so far. I haven't worked on editing any videos yet, but I will be getting on this soon with the upcoming Sherwood Forrest Faire videos.

With my work, I am often hosting live webinars from home. Seeing as how I am still learning about my computer I was definitely not ready this past week. I am going to have to learn more about this laptop and its capabilities so that I can keep hosting these presentations live without having to make a trip to the office or having to figure out Ben's desktop too.

The only thing that is missing from this laptop is the CD/DVD drive. I guess I am still old school in that I find it helpful. I mean I still use these at least every week for my workouts. I will get over it though. I am slowly realizing how awesome Google services are with the "non-need" for discs. Let's see we have itunes, amazon, google, redbox stremaing, hulu, netflix...I mean do we really need discs anymore?!

Anyways, on to the next toy. Ben was lovely enough to help me get a new camera. Now, this is something that took serious consideration as photography is not something that I have always been into. I mean just looking about on the past, we barely have any photos of ourselves or of the fun memories we have shared.

With our upcoming trip to Korea and my blog, photo and video documentation of my life has become invaluable; however, the iphone is just not cutting it at this point. So, we have invested in a Sony Cyber-Shot HX200V. You can find all of the specs here.

It's a great camera for anyone like myself who is just coming around to the whole photography idea and is not looking for anything too fanciful. I can still do so awesome things with this camera, it's steady and takes some wonderful photos, while at the same time, I can still just turn it on and point and shoot right away.

I am already seeing the number of photos increasing and also we are getting away from only having photos of little Niko too. The new camera is a great thing and I cannot wait to share more and have more documented too. The video quality is also great. I am starting to feel like we may even end up vlogging some. I have really been liking vlogs on YouTube and can see the awesomeness in having these fun memories and events documented somewhere. Plus, some days it's more about what happened or the event itself that made things great in the moment. Some times writing about it in a blog post can lose the effect. Who knows what will happen, but let me know that you think about vlogs too!

In the meantime, here are some photos to enjoy from when the camera first came in. I will be working on some more photos and videos about the Sherwood Forrest Faire for you soon!

First photo with the new camera...Great Photo!

Then we got Cherry and headed for the dog park.

She was very anxious and excited. The camera did great while we were driving in the car. We weren't even stopped when  I took this photo.

This was the dogs playing following the leader. They were doing this for a while.

This is a photo of Cherry and another friend getting into the muddy water they are supposed to stay away from :(

Ben really wasn't thrilled about this...

When we got home Cherry had a nice bath...and Ben got to clean the bathroom too :)

And of course, we can't end the day without a close up of little Niko! ^_^

Until Next Time...

It's one jealous Caturday

Hello and Happy Caturday!

It's Saturday..It's Caturday...It's Saturday...It's Caturday! I just keep singing this little tune over and over today as I have been trying to make this post. No photos today unfortunately as I just don't have much patience with Niko.

My new laptop (which I am using as I type) has finally arrived! I love it and it is just what I need and was looking for. I am already spending hours just fumbling around on this. Now...if I can only find my glasses...

Anyways, although I am thrilled I am not so sure that I can say the same for my cat counterpart. Let me see...there was scratching on the screen, chewing on the sides of the computer, oh and more chewing on the screen, and oh yes how could I forget the standing on top of the keys "jkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkoi" ----thanks Niko!

I mean is he trying to break the thing or what!

Niko is being such a jealous cat over my new toy. I can't tell you how many times he has brought me his red string. It's like I am starting to dream about this string too! Every time I turn around there Niko is just messing with me or my laptop. At one point I pushed him away and he turned around, looked at me, and then straight up bit me on my hand! What a crazy!

So, this is going to have to be a short Caturday post since Niko can't seem to leave this new toy alone and the moral of this story is...Hello Starbucks! Looks like I am going to have to get out of the house to do these postings.

Anyways...Until Next Time...

Road Blocks

Hello and Happy Thursday!

So I know I haven't given an adoption update lately, but that is because I have come across a huge road block. A mental road block but still...that is the biggest challenge of this whole process.

As mentioned before, because of some recent changes in the laws for Korea adoption and for adoptees, my adoption agency had put the brakes on the process of searching for your birth family.

Now, working in adoption, I can understand that this can happen and we have to work diligently to get back on track and be fully informed so that we can guide our families. However, it just seems that I was expecting my agency to be more "together" than "we can learn together as you go through this process."

Really? Wow...I was already lacking confidence in searching through my agency and now, I completely do not feel comfortable with this. Oh, and on top of the fact that my agency has given me about 8 forms to complete with basically essays on each of the 20 questions they have indicated per form. Seriously!?! So, this is a challenge that I am looking at and will hopefully begin to tackle soon. It's just so hard to even begin to think about...ugh...road blocks :/

But even more so, I am just getting the same overall feeling that I had all of these years...I really don't know if I want to search for her. I mean what good and then again what harm will come out of this and is this the path I should take.

All in all I guess if this were just me and if I am thinking selfishly, then I suppose I do want to pursue the search. Why? Well I am not sure other then to just know that she is. Does that even make sense? I don't really know that I want to meet her or chat with her or anything of the sort. I am overall not looking for a relationship but it is almost a search just to know that this is real, this happened, and that she exists.

I am having a huge problem overcoming this challenge of not thinking about others feelings and lives that will be effected because of my selfishness. People keep telling me to just do what I need and not to worry about how this will effect her or Ben or anyone else but that is so hard. That is all that I can think about!  What will be the outcome for Ben in all of this and is this something that I am willing to put him through to?!. My hopes have always been that she will have her own family by this time. But, what will this mean for her husband, children, parents, etc?! I just can't imagine my actions having tremendous and possible devastating consequences over something that I am fine not pursuing.

Then again, am I going to be fine not pursuing this? Am I making excuses? I can understand where people are coming from about needing to feel 100% for myself before I can ever help others but is this really what I need? Maybe all of this is just to hide the fact that I am really scared of the unknowns that will be for my future. I mean this is something that still haunts me about even traveling to Korea. What if I go and I don't want to come back? I feel that there are so many possibilities for me and there is nothing here in the US that ties me here. Things feel so flexible and I have the ability to go back if I choose. I know that it will be hard for my family, but...well if this should be the case after I travel to Korea, I am willing to make a stand on this.

Since I can feel so convicted in this truth, maybe the point is that I am not quite ready to pursue the search aspect. Maybe this is just me telling myself that I am ready to find myself in Korea, but not quite ready to dive into the past.

Each day is so different and there seems to be so many ups and downs. I just want to put this down now so that next month when this all changes perhaps I can look back and laugh or can look back and consider this all again. Oh gosh, are these typical feelings or is this just the life of a Pisces?!

This is the update for now, but again I will keep you posted on when I finally decide to actually jump into all of these forms.

Until next time...

Caturday with Red Strings Attached

Hello and Happy Caturday!

This is a red string. Nothing to it. But when Niko first saw this string it was love at first sight!

Niko first saw this string around Christmas 2011. This string was tired around a Christmas present for Ben, which was there just to close in the paper that was wrapping the gift.

For over a year now this has been Niko's most favorite toy ever! I mean we've been through balls, bells, stuff toys, tennis balls, feathers, bouncy mice, but nothing compares to this red string.

We have even tried other strings too...white strings, thicker strings, ropes, and many others. Nothing seems to capture Niko's heart but this silly red string. If anyone touches it he is right there ready to get it back in his possession. Often I see him just carrying it around the house to another location just so that he knows it's in sight. He even likes to sleep with his red string too.

Now I know, sometimes it's the simplest things in life that can bring the most joy. There is no sense in wasting any more money on other fancy toys since this red string takes the cake. One time we thought the red string was missing and I could tell Niko was so depressed without it.

Although he likes his laser a lot, nothing beats this red string. Wherever there is a Niko there will likely be a red string not too far away. Let me know what silly mundane object your cat can't live without.

Until Next Time...

Birthday Update!

Hello and Happy Tuesday!

So, again, I know I have been gone but work has been getting the best of my stress lately. I have new staff and my ideas have suddenly come into place which means a complete 180 from where we were as an agency. I am completely thrilled that things are working out so well and moving in the right direction but as the Program Manager, this means all of these changes need to be set in writing....which I am slowly but surely working on.

Anywho...Sunday, March 3rd was my birthday and of course Ben and I had a birthday weekend celebration. It's just never as much fun celebrating on one day so the rule for Kim's birthday is usually an all weekend event (or if it falls during the weekday....a week long event) YAY!!!

I think now is a great time to note how much of a planner Ben is NOT! So many ideas that I suggested sounded like fun, you know Murder Mystery Dinner, Esther's Follies, etc., for my birthday and all were sold out or not going to happen due to last minute planning....regardless he always seems to work it out for the best...BUT I must say it drives my mood swings crazy too! One minute it sounds so hopeful and happy...then No..then maybe...then No...then who knows!

All in all, we ended up having a culinary adventure of a weekend. It was so relaxing which was just what I needed. For a minute I think I even forgot about work...at least I didn't check in on my work email all weekend--YAY!

We started the weekend off with Friday night dinner at Buca di Beppo for some yummy Italian food and then migrated into Saturday night with my FAVORITE place in Austin Gumbo's! You just can't help but savor the delicious fish and Cajun mix! It was an even more awesome experience this time as the staff was informed about my birthday and were top notch all night. We even got a free key lime pie with a candle and no embarassing singing too. Perfect!

The night was great and mostly because Ben and I realized that it's so nice when we can just get out of the house and chat with each other...not about work or the day or things we need to do, but rather, just about life and our dreams, goals, and future. Ben and I have so much outside stresses that stay on our shoulders, but catching up on each others life is so nice and it's crazy to think that we see each other every day and don't chat about this more. We are definitely going to have to do this more.

After Saturday night we were planning on hitting up the Austin Kite Festival which we had a blast at last year, but I just wasn't feeling all the traffic and crowds. We have both been sick so instead we decided to have a picnic at Mount Bonnell. We grabbed some wonderful Rosemary bread and some great other meats and cheeses and headed up the road to this beautiful view:

It was such a perfect day to be out and about and this was a great way to enjoy the beautiful weather.

After hanging out for a while we managed to see an awesome deal on a laptop that I have been eying for quite some time. I had to grab it while I could, the only problem is that the they were all sold out by Sunday and the closest one in stock was in Midland :( So, it is ordered and I am anxiously waiting for this baby to get here!

As you can see, they also took the cabin's TV

To backtrack for a second, a couple of years ago Ben and I took a trip to the Smoky Mountains. It was beautiful and fun with lots of memories. We were able to stay in a cute little cabin without close neighbors....wahwahwah...NO! Heads up...should this be an option...BEWARE! We were totally robbed after we left the cabin that night and my laptop at the time (the one we were dumping all of our photos onto at the end of each day) was stolen. I was so disappointed and I haven't replaced it till now. When we called the police after arriving back to the cabin, they let us know that these cabins that aren't close to neighbors are often broken into by small time thieves. Boo!

Back to this year's birthday celebrations...Sunday night was wrapped up with again our favorite Tex-Mex place Chuy's and then Monday we of course had to have Odaku too!

Overall, it was a great birthday but still not the same without my birth buddy. The culinary trip was great and I am still stuffed I must say. Now, back to the workout grind I go! Oh, and cross your fingers that the laptop comes in soon!

Until next time...