I’ve been staying in bed for the past week because of mono, which is very interesting in so many ways. It leads to a lot of thinking because you dont have the energy to do anything else. I was recently flipping through a magazine that had a picture of a stamp that said “your existence gives me hope”. This spoke to me in so many ways, it is hard for me to imagine more meaningful words to tell someone. Something so hopeful that you are putting into someone else, telling them how much you rely on not their friendship, words or actions but solely for their existence in this world.
When you begin to think on this, on who’s existence really does give you the feeling of hope I was really surprised with the people that came to mind. People that I have grown up with, family members, husband, dog, but even people that I have only seen a few times on the street that I don’t know their names. How beautiful that you can feel hope in a complete stranger.
I can think of one young couple in particular that stands out greatly in my mind that I saw on the bus one day. They stood out from everyone, most likely because they were whispering and kissing each other as though no one else were on the bus, but they both looked so unique. After that bus ride I kept thinking of this couple. Now, a couple of years later I have seen them a few times on the bus and walking around downtown, they never seem to be any less in love or care any more then they did that first day I met them of the existence of anyone else.
Their existence gives me hope.

Terra

What I was listening to: Emiliana Torrini station on pandora

Happy 2011! I am excited to get set off on the right foot this year! Pete is starting this year off with trying to figure out all of his allergies with food. So today is the first of his 30 days of no wheat. As for me I am going to have a new years resolution this year of no shopping at Target for 1 year. It’s been about 6 years since I’ve shopped at Walmart so it’s time to tick off the Target habit! To all of you out there, I wish you all the best in this year.

It’s been around 1 year since Pete and I bought our first house! We’ve ripped things up, put things up, taken things down, got a dog, trained a dog, had a dog poop on our couch, made tables, painted walls, planted gardens, mowed the lawn, had our duvet ripped up by our dog, made many delicious meals, canned food, replaced a toilet, cleaned walls, scooped snow, decorated, undecorated, snuggled with the well trained dog, put up tile, painted more walls and much, much more. We have had so many wonderful experiences together and would love to start sharing some of them with you. I have a feeling we’ll get some before and after pictures put up soon but instead of catching you up right now I’ll leave you will an adorable picture of Artemis (who isn’t quite as small one year later). Stay tuned!

As some of you must know, Terra and I have been working on getting our own clothing company off the ground. And while it seems a bit overwhelming at times, we have the website done and are ready to move forward. Please be so kind as to check out the site and see if there’s anything you like. Thank you all!

Pete

salmonpete.com/store

Terra is featured in the Daily Iowan today. It’s supposed to be about salons in general, but Terra was obviously the most interesting, so the entire article ended up revolving around her and Blaze. Here is the link so you can find it online.   http://www.dailyiowan.com/2009/06/24/Metro/11812.html

We’ve only been here two years and already we’re making the news.

Check out this link, I found it awesome. It’s a pretty sweet comic strip all about bicycles. Something that’s right up my alley.

http://www.yehudamoon.com/index.php?date=2008-01-22

Waiting to Wed

This is our neighbors and Lee is wearing one of the shirts that we made. It’s super cool!
-Pete

We just got back from a nice weekend away. Ahren and Anna were kind enough to grace us with their presence on Saturday. They stopped by Blaze where Ahren got a much needed haircut, then Ahren, Anna, Peter and I all headed to Davenport for the night. It was really nice to see Mom and Dad…. and of course Jax and Taylor! We stayed up playing games on the Wii then after church on Sunday went to Story City to spend the afternoon with family. It’s always a nice boost to be with friends and family. I learned about an awesome old game called Booby Trap… I apparently wasn’t very good at it but I will be searching ebay for one. Mom, Dad, Peter and I traveled back east today and ate at Ali Baba, a wonderful Mediterranean restaurant and now Peter and I are enjoying a relaxing day off. Sometimes cloudy days are exactly what I need. Something really exciting is that we should be getting SalmonPete’s website up soon! We’ll keep you updated. Hope you are all doing well and enjoying Spring!

One year later and here we are writing on our website??  Weird.  Peter and I are sitting in our cozy apartment in Iowa City getting ready to eat our black bean burgers and fries from The Mill, this is what we do when we get ready to write on our website after one year of being away.  We have been doing really well here in snowy Iowa.  Peter is working as a Screen printer at Graphic Printing and Design this winter, and he seems to enjoy it a bit.  He bikes everyday to work and I mean every negative 45 degrees (with windchill) to work… he sure is a trooper.  I am still managing Blaze a color salon in Coralville and am also enjoying it there.  I am doing something new and different everyday and absolutely loving hair.  So far this winter Peter and I have made a snow serpent in our yard, done some bowling, watched some movies, have been engrossed in the “Twilight Saga”, done some screen printing in our basement, learned how to crochet, done a lot of artistic things with our apartment, gone to some shows at the Picador, played some music, indulged in a some theme parties, breezed through season 4 of The Office, celebrated the Inauguration of our new president Barack Obama, and have been enjoying a lot of love from friends and family who have been finding sweet time to kick back and relax.  Things have been really nice here this winter now that we’ve gotten some true Iowa snow.  When it isn’t too cold it’s nice to get outside and walk around enjoying the peacefulness of this beautiful world.  For right now at this moment… I am going to leave you because this black bean burger is making my mouth water.  Hopefully we will hear from you soon.  Lots of love and peace!  

Love, Terra and Peter