Thursday, November 22, 2007

Blessings + birthday...


...equals good times.

Happy Thanksgiving my american amigos. Hope yours is full of good food, good people, and good things to be thankful for. This is my first turkey day as a wife... our first turkey day as a married duo. There's a lot to be thankful for right there.

Tonight we're visiting with my family. Tomorrow we visit with Dan's family. Two big ole' days of goodness. Dan and my little brother are playing Wii as we speak. Meet Rob - who likes to eat - his birthday is today. The big 2-0. Boy do I feel OLD. Where does the time go? He sure has grown up to be one cool dude.

Since NO ONE played along to my invitation design guessing game last time (and Mandy couldn't participate because she already knew the answer), here's the dish. I made the swirls to look like half of Mickey's head. Do you see it? It's apparently a hidden Mickey, and that makes me a genius right? Although, it was so hidden the bride herself (the ultimate Disney fanatic) didn't even see it. So what does that make me? Maybe that little secret needs to be a part of my big Matron of Honor speech...

In older news - the surprise 50th anniversary party for Dan's grandparents last weekend was a success. In true hillbilly style, everyone was dressed up in their overalls, bandanas, and whatever else they could find. We even had a shotgun wedding for his grandparents to "renew their vows." They were so surprised showing up - even after they helped setup the night before with false impressions that the party was for someone else - that his grandma cried. There was a bluegrass band, and Rob rocked on the soundboard. Here are some photos right out of the camera. Life looks GRAND in 50mm...








Me with my parents - the numbers were for the "best dressed hillbilly" contest...






Dan with the "newlyweds"...



I realize that my striped sweater doesn't exactly scream HILLBILLY, but it was the closest I had. At least I threw in some pigtails for good measure. His grandparents won the best-dressed contest - as they should.

That's about it for tonight - relaxing and watching the boys play video games. I tried a few new recipes today that didn't all turn out as planned, but that's okay. Cook and learn. Tomorrow's another day to stuff my face.

Enjoy the turkey and blessings.

Monday, November 19, 2007

Happy accidents...



Now that we've done a few photo shoots, I'm starting to realize the happy accidents that come out of capturing moments and interactions. This photo was one such unpredictable moment that turned out too cute for words. I love it. Madison is the only one looking at the camera, little Hayley is doing her own thing, and tiny Sam decided to jump out of the line. The faces of mom and dad looking at Sam - PERFECT. What a story in one moment.

We had a great time with the family, following them around and trying all sorts of fun things. The colors at the park were awesome and I think the photos will be well worth their wait. Go check out more photos in their gallery.

Thanks for braving the chilly morning, we enjoyed every moment!

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Put me in coach...

Here it is - Wednesday again. Good old hump day. WHAT A WEEK it has been... in true I'd-just-like-to-call-it-a-wash fashion. But I'm definitely looking at the good stuff and calling it a much needed week.

Dan and I had our flu shots last Tuesday and we're still not sure if that was a good decision. I woke up Wednesday morning to a nice feeling of nauseousness and a headache, and went into work late. Thursday we met with the Blasi bunch again to enjoy some time together and take care of a little business. Good thing #1 - spending time with good people, having good conversation, and their cute kids. Friday was one crazy-packed day at work, only to come home to a crazy-packed night of work. I had some shopping to do and games to make for Mandy's bridal shower the next day. I should've scattered that work throughout the week, but I didn't. I figured I could get it done in one night because only one of the games had intensive prep-time, and the food prep was little to none. And I totally stressed myself out - oops.

Come Saturday morning I thought that stress was getting back at me when I woke up with a sore throat. I was probably right. Dan helped me with the last bit of prep in the morning, and I trucked through the day to do what I had to do. What a big turn-out Miss Mizzle had for her shower, and you should've SEEN how quick the little weenies I made disappeared. Thanks to Sheri for the recipe. I should have known to make more since everyone that walked through the kitchen was eying and asking about them. Half the people asked for the recipe before they even knew what I was making! I guess that's how you know something's good. I made another tray after the first two were wiped, but Mandy's mom said we should keep them to ourselves - good idea mom.

Because of time constraints and technical problems, we were only able to play one of the three games I prepared (plus an ice breaker game) - and it wasn't the one that took the most prep time. HA. That's okay, we'll have to play them another time. Poor Mandy had to rush to open all of her gifts because the guests were watching the clock (mainly to make fun I hope). I think everyone had a good time. I know I did with all the laughs and free-flowing water bottles for my monster thirst. Bridal shower - success!

Afterwards, Mandy and Chris had their families together for dinner and invited me to stay. There were more laughs and more good people, and talk about lubricating my rubbers. (All clean thoughts on this blog, folks, we were talking about my car.) I was the photographer for the day and took some family photos of them also, so those are due for uploading. Good thing #2 - time with Mandy and her family is always filled with fun. Thanks for the invite guys, it was just what I needed. I'll have the photos to you soon.

Oh, and for her invitation that I never posted, comment and tell me what you see looking at it. I'm either a design failure, or a genius beyond my wildest dreams. I'll let you know which one next time. Excuse the blurry text - just for quick show.

While driving home Saturday night my sore throat got worse and worse - horribly worse - like my tonsils were being pulled out and sliced off every time I swallowed. Between trying not to swallow and shivering through 90 degree heat coming through my vents, I HAD to stop at the store to get something for my throat. Something. Anything. I decided on some Chloreseptic cough drops - WHICH DO NOT WORK - because I'm not too good with the gag reflexes and holding a spray in my throat for 15 seconds before spitting it out. I would choke. So I took Advil, covered myself in sweats, and prepared for my slow death. Of course, my death was halted around 1:00 in the morning when Dan was locked out (I blame it on my delirium) and started throwing rocks at our bedroom window. After that I was definitely scared halfway to my death.

Sunday was spent out of commission. It was a nice, full day on the couch. I tried to do a little work, but only ended up exhausting myself trying to sit up at the computer. I sure learned my lesson - RELAX. Nothing but noodle soup, fluids, television, and napping for me. While recovering I also worked from home Monday morning and went in after lunch to finish important things. I've been trying to get my energy back and I think I finally found it today. We'll see tomorrow. Good thing #3 - being forced to relax and take care of myself is a darn good thing, and I need to do it more often.

Tuesday and today - I'm back in the game and ready to rock it. Last week I made a collection of Christmas (or holiday) cards for our photo shoot families and for anyone else that is interested. Totally customizable. Absolutely loving them, especially the ornaments, and the trees, and the jingle bells... oh, and the postcard and stockings too. The blue is so dreamy. Not sure which one we're going to use for our cards yet, or if we're going with something different. Anyone interested should act fast before it's too late! And if you need a photo taken you should act even quicker!

That's about it for me today. Hope your hump day was fabulous, and Thursday is even better. Here's to good health and jumping back in there!

Thursday, November 1, 2007

HELLOOO Thursday...

So good to see you again.

This past week has been very go-with-the-flow-ish. Last Saturday we made the most of our every-other-week date night, or day in this case. Not only had we been married for FIVE months, we also had a photo shoot with the Theil family and the crisp air and changing leaves decided to join us. The clouds and some sprinkles also wanted in on the party. We welcomed the clouds since they made for better photos, but the rain WAS NOT welcome - especially when we had to keep wiping/covering our dear camera. It didn't last long, thank goodness.

After the shoot, we had lunch and went to take in the atmosphere at Starbuck's. We were there the whole afternoon sipping the good stuff and working on our laptops. Dan launched a huge part of our website on Friday, so we were making final adjustments to that, uploading/working on photos, and whatever else. I have to give Dan MUCH THANKS and MAD PROPS for getting the site up so quickly. He's a computer wizard. I'm loving it so far - now I just need to get my butt in gear on finishing the design samples section.

Dinner rolled around and we were going to take home some Chipotle and watch a movie, but the smells of Don Pablos took over once we walked out of Starbuck's - and that was it. Full stomachs later, we went home to watch Evan Almighty. Good movie - though it was hard to watch Steve Carell in a "serious" role - haha.

Sunday we celebrated my birthday with my parents. Yummy lunch and cute gifts there.

Tuesday we had a delivery on our doorstep! It was a computer tower that Dan ordered last week with essentials to make it run since we already have keyboards, monitors, etc. Now we have some dual-core, 4 GB ram goodness that lets us do photo and video stuff (well, all stuff) MUCH faster than our little laptops would allow. More multitasking, here I come! Of course we won't say goodbye to the laptops since we can cart them around, but now I'm having trouble figuring out how much I want to leave on mine for working-on-the-go.

The Ricketts' photos can now be seen HERE! We went to Sharon Woods for their shoot and had a good time with them and their cute doggies. I think I can tell them apart now, and tell you which one's the girl, but don't quiz me on their names. Thanks for rolling with us and trying out some new things, guys, it was a lot of fun!

Even though Halloween was last night, it really didn't feel like it. Since we live in an apartment community (read: many buildings with a lot of stairs) and there are nice neighborhoods right down the street (read: expensive homes with no stairs), guess where the kids go? That's okay, though, I can live vicariously through Sheri and her Halloween decorations.

The weekend is full of promise - we have no obligations and anything can happen. Well, we have a happenin' party for all the volunteers at church tomorrow night, but other than that, nada. There's more photo editing to be done, other stuff dealing with photos, some laundry to put away, a lot of cleaning to do, and some fall decorating to replace spring stuff. Don't say it - I know it's halfway through fall already and I still have out my SPRING/SUMMER stuff. Ooops! Time got away from me. And I know I may as well just wait and put out Christmas decor... we'll see. As long as the spring things get put away!

Let's boogy - it's almost the weekend!

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