Live Each Day To The Fullest

We received some sad news yesterday. While Todd was running, he received a call from his friend Julie’s husband, telling him that Julie died suddenly of a brain aneurism Friday night.  Julie was much younger than us.  Julie had a husband and a sweet two-year-old little boy.  We were shocked and saddened.  Todd was supposed to have lunch with her and some other friends next week.  We are once again reminded of how fragile life is, and to live everyday to the fullest, with the people we love the most.

In memory of Julie, I found a photo of Todd and Julie at the work baby shower that Todd had organized for Julie two years ago.

Todd was nominated to organize the baby shower, since there were no other women in the IT department to do it. Even though I didn’t know Julie as much as Todd did, I feel so sad. I feel so sad for her husband and little boy, and her close-knit family. My prayers go to all of them for strength, peace, and comfort at this difficult time.

Yesterday’s sad news put life at a much different perspective than the days before.  I’m so thankful that our lives and good times are documented in photos and words. In December my coworker’s 14-year-old daughter committed suicide.  I saw him in January and one of the first things he said to me was, “I realize now how important photos are”. Photos. Words. Memories. Love. That’s what we are left with when someone we love passes on.

I’ve always tried to celebrate the small things in life, as well as the big things. Every day is a chance to do things we love and spend time with people we care about. In honor of that, and in honor of Julie, here was our past week in photos and words.

Last Saturday (3/1) I finally got to spend some time with my long-time (since we were 12!) friend Sally and her toddler twins.

The twins have grown so much and are talking now. It was so good to catch-up with Sally and hear about her current life.

I love that her smile today is exactly the same as her smile in 1997 in this funny picture of the two of us.

As long as we’re talking about Sally and I’s long-time friendship, might as well go way back to the 80’s for this one.  I’m in the black Giants shirt. Sally in blue. Yes, I was into sports even as a teenager. (See my Joe Montana poster on my wall in the background.)

I need to remember all our great times together, and try to get together more often.

Celebrating something small… I ran out of k-cups for my Keurig and Todd bought me these Kona Blend ones and they really are fantastic!  Great discovery.

Last Sunday (3/2) Todd and I went back to a restaurant we hadn’t been in about a year, Liang’s Kitchen. They have Chinese comfort food, which was perfect for a rainy Sunday. We had green onion pancakes.

Sour cabbage & garlic pork noodles.

And Ji Cai wonton noodle soup. (Meat + veggie wontons in a soup with seaweed & green onions.)

Everything was really good. Glad we went back there and looking forward to more visits.

On Friday night we went to a new-to-us pizza place called “Best Pizza & Brew”.

Todd really loved the pizza there. I liked it too, but pizza is still slightly hard to chew for me with my braces.

Afterwards we had frozen yogurt at Yogurtland.

Yesterday was our next door neighbor Fred’s combined birthday and retirement party. Annie went overboard and made all this food by herself!

My plate was loaded with brunch goodness.

Fred is passionate about coffee and roasts his own beans. He built a coffee-roasting shack in his backyard. This was the coffee selection yesterday!

Each carafe had a label describing the coffee bean.

It should come as no surprise that Fred has built a coffee bar in his living room then. This is our friend Andy (the espresso master for the day) and Todd, discussing coffee and work.

Unfortunately we did not get a photo of Fred, since he was in high-demand at the party. That wrong will need to be righted with a retro-photo soon!  Great party! Happy retirement, Fred!

From our own kitchen lately…

(Yes, I’ve decided that tripod photos of doing mundane things together is cool.)

Chicken Piccata (from this Turkey Piccata recipe, made with chicken instead.)

Chicken Udon Soup (this recipe)

And yesterday we made these Chicken Enchiladas and they were delicious! Todd hates cheese so only half had cheese on it.

The cheesy half!

On my plate. Yum!

I spent some time yesterday prepping and printing out my 2nd half of February photos for Project Life.

And then working on it. It really gives me joy to see my photos and to work on my pages.

As for the Noodle-meister, he’s been a crazy snuggling cat. Here he is, snuggling on Todd’s lap and arm while Todd played a video game on his computer, LOL.

Such cuteness.

Yesterday was a super-sunny day in the neighborhood.

Here’s to more sunny days ahead, and being thankful and living life to the fullest each day.