Very Vicki

Hello 2010...

2010-01-01T23:47:00.002-05:00

Before the clock strikes midnight on this New Year's 2010 and I forget to announce it here, our new blog is live. Check it out and leave a comment so I can make sure our fun comment boxes are working. :)

Goodbye 2009...

2009-12-31T23:19:00.002-05:00

On Facebook today I read so many status updates saying good riddance to 2009. For many it was a less-than-great year of ups and downs. I could say the same about my 2009, since the year had its range of events and emotions, but in my book it's been a great year.

Here's 2009 in a nutshell:

A vacation to California to see friends and family
An unexpected job loss
An unexpected call back from the company
Strengthening my passion for our business and my goals
The launch of our new website
Teaching my first semester at a new college
The opening of our Etsy shop
Learning so much about myself and business
The celebrations of friends having little ones
Much, much more.

The past year has been such a learning experience, and I'm thankful for it and the blessings Dan and I have received. I know, such sappiness. I'm leaving 2009 behind with a positive farewell, and looking forward to all that 2010 may bring.

Happy 2010.

Testing, changing, testing...

2009-12-31T16:02:00.001-05:00

Dan and I are doing more work on the new blog today, and I can't wait to reveal it tomorrow. We have been testing things, changing things, making sure things are user-friendly and self-explanatory, and adding some more functionality. I also need to figure out what to write for my first post there. Talk about the pressure of having a blank canvas.

One more day...

2009-12-30T23:40:00.002-05:00

After I wrote my title, I got the Diamond Rio song in my head. I'm now listening to it to avoid the inevitable looping that happens when a song is stuck in my head.

Tonight we all get to see a random Christmas tree image that Dan took at his parents' house. He was looking through a green bottle top, and the crazy lights on the left and right are from candle lights in the windows.

Today consisted of having lunch with Ms. Sweet 'n Snarky (who has somehow blogged less than me this year), running errands, stuffing our faces, and working on the new blog. Dan and I need to get ourselves back on a decent sleeping schedule. It looks like a caffeinated all-nighter might be in order, or maybe I just need someone to drag me out of bed before 10:30 for the next few days.

Tomorrow: I have to squeeze in two blog posts to equal 50 for the year, and then this crazy goal I set for myself will be completed. Although, I have to say it was pretty fun and painless up until this week—when I've been busier with nothing to share. If anyone has ideas for tomorrow's two posts, I'm up for suggestions!

So it begins...

2009-12-30T01:42:00.001-05:00

This is the part of my blogging marathon where the posts get infinitely more boring.

I stopped being a couch bum today, worked on the iMac again, and started updating our website. Our [shoot] slideshow has been updated to show images from 2009, and there are still more images to be added. Dan also started working on our blog! Insert happy dance here. Actually, he started working on our blog back when the site launched, but it still needed a little bit of work to look like the template I designed. After I designed the template at the beginning of the year, I came up with new ideas throughout the year. Soooooo...I shared all of the notes I had, and we're planning for a New Year's reveal.

Contrary to what it sounds like, I actually have gotten off the couch in the last week. Dan and I got out and ran some errands yesterday. We were both reminded why we don't like to leave the house any time around the holidays, and why we don't shop at Walmart. Call us both Scrooge, but we know what's good for us. ;)

Got Mac?

2009-12-29T02:22:00.002-05:00

While I'm royally screwing up my sleeping schedule, I found this little gem from Mashable. It's NOT SAFE FOR WORK, so you've been warned. If you've seen the "I'm on a Boat" video, this is a great spoof.

I'm on a Mac.

Only four more days...

2009-12-27T23:34:00.004-05:00

...four more days of:

listening to me ramble and fill up space
the month of december
the year 2009
the decade

Wow. I heard on TV today that it's the last Sunday of the decade, and I hadn't thought about that before hearing it. I accomplished so much, lived through so much, and had so many blessings in this decade, that it's hard to imagine all that can possibly happen in the next decade.

These pictures sum up our weekend—lazy, lazy, lazy, with some laundry and other things. I didn't even take the time to make good pictures. I didn't want to disturb the kitties, so I just used my phone. Merry is on the left, and Urple is on the right.

Sprinkled in with my laziness was a bit of productivity. I finally put together a client feedback survey, and the screenshot above is just a slice of it. Its main purpose is to help us plan for 2010, but I hope to use it as a part of new client work-flow to get feedback and suggestions as we go along. I also made one for non-clients that I may post to our Facebook fan page. It has very different questions (except for the first two), and would help us to know what potential clients think.

That's all I have for today. What can I ramble about tomorrow? :)

Lazy day after Christmas...

2009-12-26T23:43:00.003-05:00

We all had a very lazy day around here, spent mostly on the couch. Don't let Urple fool you. When she wasn't watching television she was lounging on the couch, too. It was very nice to be lazy and wear pajamas all day long. We even had pizza delivered for dinner. Merry day after Christmas!

A little Christmas fact: it's been three years since Dan surprised me with our fur babies. When we tried to come up with names for them, two sets of names were in the lead. First, since one was wearing a red collar and the other was wearing a purple collar, we thought of the names Edna (from red) and Urple (from purple, obviously). For the second set of names, since they were our Christmas babies, we thought of the names Merry and Noel.

We started calling the purple-collared kitty Urple and Noel at different times, but she only seemed to answer to Urple. Then, we started calling the red-collared kitty Edna to match with Urple, but all I could think about was an old lady with gray hair. Since I wanted some reminder of Christmas, and I didn't want to think of an old lady every time I called her name, I decided to go with Merry. The names just stuck and somehow fit their personalities perfectly.

I revisited my website notes tonight—notes that I've taken here and there when ideas strike—to see what I want to do over the next week. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to the changes and updates. Dan setup our website in a way that is super easy for me to make most changes myself, so I've made some little changes since its launch in April, but I'm just now thinking about how I want to update the bigger things continuously. I won't bore you with it all.

If any of you have to work with website or design clients, this site is too funny not to share. Enjoy. :)

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T23:57:00.002-05:00

I was beat by the time we got home last night, and we're not yet home tonight, but I don't want to skip another day to post. Too bad I didn't bring a laptop either, crazy me! The iPhone will have to do. Excuse any resulting typos. :)

Christmas for us always includes at least three rounds. On Christmas Eve, we normally get together with both families. Yesterday was no exception. First thing in the morning, we went to our church's Christmas show called Awaited. It has all the pieces and characters you might expect from a Christmas show, but with Crossroads' artistic interpretation. It was awesome! Afterward, we had Dan's family over to our house for lunch and a gift exchange.

We had some time to relax before heading over the river and through the woods to visit my parents. We watched Four Christmases and The Hangover, and had a good time. Even though my younger brother had to work, I did get to see my older brothers, which was nice.

On Christmas, we normally sleep in and have the third round with Dan's family, which includes aunts and uncles compared to Christmas Eve. Since I've known Dan, Christmas has also included putting together his little brothers' Lego contraptions, and today was (again) no exception. His brothers like to play with the finished product rather than building it, which is fun for us. I was a Lego-building machine today and my back is yelling at me for it. I think a massage appointment is well deserved after all of my hard work the past few months.

I think we're about to head home and crash. Having the next week off from the day job is going to be wonderful!

I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas full of blessings and happiness!

Joe + Maura = Owen [life collection]

2009-12-23T21:35:00.000-05:00

On Sunday, we had the pleasure of meeting Joe and Maura's adorable baby boy. Even though he had grown in the 11 days since his birth, he was still so tiny to us. He was a great sport throughout the session, which included a little nap for him while we ate lunch. Joe and Maura have such wonderful colors in their home that, combined with the outfits they chose, made the images look very soothing. I couldn't think of a better turn-out.

I hope Joe and Maura enjoy the sneak peek of their beautiful family. And with that, I'm happy to introduce you to sweet Owen...

Look at those squishy cheeks!

And those little feet!

Look, Maura, he did smile for us!

So precious...

Joe and Maura: thank you for letting us invade your home and hang out while meeting Owen. Hopefully everyone was able to nap after we left. :) We're looking forward to seeing you next week!

Post #200...

2009-12-22T22:50:00.001-05:00

Here's wishing my blog a happy 200 posts! It only took me four years to get here. ;)

And look, I even made some Oreo truffles for the occasion. I made these last year and they were really good, so I decided to make them again. How can you go wrong with Oreos?! Actually, I did go wrong on the white chocolate. I started out with a mix of white chocolate chips, some white baking chocolate, and some white bark. The mixture was clumpy and yellowish, and I wasn't happy with the coverage. For the second half—after I ran out of the mixture–I used only white bark like the recipe calls for, and it went on smoothly. Mine aren't as pretty as Bakerella's, but they won't last long anyway. Yum.

2009 Christmas card...

2009-12-22T09:12:00.003-05:00

Now that (I'm pretty sure) all of our cards have been delivered, I thought I would post them here. We went with a linen paper that gave everything a bit of depth and interest, especially on the back where it's mostly a solid color. Our red was actually deeper than pictured—at least on my monitor—but I don't have time to mess with the images this morning.

Now that we have our names in digital form, I can use them on cards and things in the future. I know tradition is a stickler for signing your cards and making sure you address them by hand, but sometimes I find it perfectly acceptable to use shortcuts. Here's a secret: we "hand-addressed" all of our wedding invitations...with my handwriting made into a font and printed onto clear labels. Don't tell Martha! :)

Edited to add: Now that I think about it, we didn't even use clear labels. We just printed straight onto the envelopes, so it looked like I wrote it.

A quick post was the objective this morning, and now I need to get ready for my hair appointment. Is washing and fixing your hair for a haircut like brushing and flossing your teeth for the dentist? Hmm...

Done and done!

2009-12-20T23:43:00.000-05:00

What can I say about today?

Since there weren't any church services this weekend, it felt like a Saturday.
We had a newborn session with Joe and Maura's adorable new baby.
After using our new 70-200 lens for the session today, Dan and I are discussing how we can satisfy our desires for more "L" lenses. Our beloved 50mm 1.4 seemed lackluster in comparison.
I was a packaging and addressing machine today. I'm still waiting on a few more client gifts that haven't arrived. I'm crossing my fingers that they'll come tomorrow morning so I can package and ship them with everything else. Here's my stack for the post office tomorrow:

This monogram canvas is in that stack somewhere. I wanted to show it because it's the first time this design has been ordered. I think it's super cute for a little girl's bedroom. You know... it seems like everyone is ordering brown designs. I've had a couple reds and a green, but other than that everyone has ordered browns—must be a popular color for home decor.

This week: it's a 3-day work week, and I will be spending it from the comfort of my home. Our Christmas cards have reached some of their lovely destinations, but if you didn't get one—and you want one—let me know.

Goodnight.

Christmas came early...

2009-12-19T23:55:00.004-05:00

Okay, I'm going to admit something. We're all friends here, right? Believe it or not, my husband is a bad gift giver. There, I said it. He's a bad gift giver. Not because he gives bad gifts, though. Quite the opposite—he gives me the BEST gifts. It's his timing that needs work. As soon as he gets a gift in his hand, even before it's wrapped, he wants to give it to me. And once he's forced me to open my gift(s), I want to give him his gifts. This has created interesting Christmas mornings for us because we have nothing to open from each other.

So, when two packages arrived from UPS yesterday I wanted to make sure that one was kept for Christmas morning. I already knew what one package was because we discussed and ordered it together. [Side note] I went into work late yesterday so I could sign for these packages. There's nothing like stepping out of the shower and hearing the doorbell ring. [End side note] Leave it to Dan, he left work early, unpacked the packages, and wrapped the gifts before I got home...and then he made me open both. He's so cruel.

The gift I knew: a Canon 5D Mark II. The surprise gift: a Canon 70-200mm 2.8L IS lens.

Now, we just need to decide if we will sell our Rebel XSi or keep it. It's a nice size to tote around and would serve as a backup if either the 40D or 5D is out of commission. It's been a great camera for us so far.

Today: Dan and I had one of his family Christmas parties today. His dad's side gets together for lunch on the Saturday before Christmas. We were running out the door this morning, an hour behind schedule, and forgot the Christmas cards we needed to distribute. I was so mad. I made the best of the situation by opening our Christmas card list on my phone and updating addresses with everyone. Did you know that Google spreadsheets can be edited on the iPhone now?! I haven't tried any other types of documents yet, but that really helped my sanity.

The rest of the day included some needed relaxation. Right now I'm enjoying some couch time with Dan and Saturday Night Live. Muse is on the show tonight!

Tomorrow: Dan and I get to have lunch with Joe and Maura and meet their baby boy for his newborn session. Yay! After that, I will be getting monogram canvases ready for shipping. If you were a canvas giveaway winner, you will receive it this week. Other than that, I'll see where the day takes me.

I should be headed to bed...

2009-12-17T23:56:00.006-05:00

It was another night like last night. Not much to say, and no pictures to show, since I just whittled at my task list. Speaking of task lists, if anyone is looking for super simple online to-do list management, this site is very cool. I just wish I could use it. It's much too simple for what I'm used to.

So, I'm thinking about next year and how I might designate business vacation days for myself ahead of time. You know, when I know that a busy time is approaching, it's around a holiday or after a busy time, etc. My workaholic self would probably work right through those vacations, though. This year when I was feeling uninspired or lost, or just tired, I took a break. I relaxed on the couch, I watched movies with Dan, I cleaned (though you wouldn't know it by looking at my house right now), and all was good. I took the days I needed and got back into the swing of things. I'm just not sure if I want to continue with what works, or try a different route.

My word for the year has also been in the back of my head—margin. As I went from day to day, I would think about creating margin for myself. Making sure that I made time to just hang out and do nothing, spend time with friends, get out of the house (now I sound like a shut-in), and reduce stress by not over-scheduling or saying yes to everything. While there were some very hectic weeks this year, during the Fall in particular, I think I did a pretty good job with the margin factor.

[Side note: That whole "say yes to everything?" We had a series at church about commitment and it was fantastic to hear. It was all about making your NO mean NO, and your YES mean YES. You can hear the messages here. The series is at the bottom of the page.]

Anyway, as depressing as this post may sound, I've enjoyed this crazy business journey. I will continue to follow my dream, continue to work hard at what I'm passionate about, continue to create days of rest for myself (somehow), and see where I'm led.

Goodnight.

[Edited to add: I just checked my twitter stream, and I saw this site about choosing six habits for 2010. Leo from Zen Habits will help you form those habits. I am horrible at creating (good) habits because I'm not patient enough with the process, so I might look into this. Let me know if you decide to do it.]

Not much to say...

2009-12-16T22:46:00.002-05:00

It'll be a quick one tonight because today was uneventful and without a picture. Between work, a carry-out dinner, delivering a print order that arrived today, designing and emailing proofs to the canvas giveaway winners, and getting our Christmas cards ready for the mailbox tomorrow, I am beat.

I will leave you with something cool, though. If anyone would like to get me a Christmas gift, a month's subscription of these would be fantastic. ;)

Goodnight.

Christmas tree tomfoolery + toy testing...

2009-12-15T11:35:00.003-05:00

Isn't that a fun word...tomfoolery?

Today was bittersweet.

Bitter: it was the last day of my Fall semester class. I had a great class and I hope the students go on to be public speaking rock stars. Or at least resist the urge to say "um" 30 times in 5 minutes.
Sweet: I only had 11/17 students come to class and give their last speech today, so class let out early and I stayed on campus for a couple hours afterward to turn in my final grades.
Bitter: I only had 11/17 students come to class to give their last speech today, so I had to give out some zeros.
Sweet: Once I left campus, I came home for lunch and toy testing (more on that later). Our Christmas cards and some other print products arrived while I was gone, so opening the packages was like...Christmas?
Double sweet: Our Christmas cards are addressed and ready for postage. While I was finishing them, Dan and I watched/listened to a Craig Lyons performance on Second Life.
Bitter: There are a handful of cards that I don't have addresses for yet.
Sweet: Dan and I had the final drawing for our monogram canvas giveaway.
Bitter: I wish I could have given all of the participants a canvas.
Sweet: We chose two winners instead of one. The giveaway was a lot of fun and I hope we can do something like it again soon.

Back to that Christmas tree tomfoolery. While I was busy cleaning our upstairs office last night, Dan was busy making our tree look like something out of Star-Trek.

And here is the reason I was cleaning the office and toy testing. This thing is huge. Actually, I don't think "huge" does it justice. It's at least two feet wide. I bought it a couple weeks ago after going back and forth about the purchase, and just received it yesterday. I've wanted a wide-format printer for a while and I was persuaded by a mail-in rebate—which turned into an instant rebate, but that's a story for another day. Meet the Epson R2880.

I printed a few things today and messed around with color profiles to test out the color. It's really make-or-break whether this new printer can print our business colors correctly, and overall print as close to actual colors as possible. We already have three printers from over the years that don't come close to printing our business colors correctly—that wasn't the objective when we got them (or inherited them by marriage). The only one that does is our laser printer, but sometimes I just need an ink-jet. Call me picky... crazy... whatever. I'm excited. I'll keep you posted.

An extra day...

2009-12-13T23:26:00.002-05:00

This morning I really didn't want to get out of bed. I was really tired and my bed was really comfy, but I got up and started getting ready. I tried to pick out my outfit in my head, thinking of which dress pants I had washed. I was not looking forward to going to work. I had just finished my hair when Dan told me that we needed to leave. I was really confused because I normally don't go into work until 9:00, and it was only 7:45. And he had his car--we didn't need to ride together.

That was when Dan said that we needed to leave at 7:45 for his 8:30 meeting at church...and that was when I realized that it was Sunday instead of Monday. And just like that I had gained an extra day to my weekend. Too bad tomorrow really is Monday.

This afternoon and evening I worked on a couple maps for a wedding invitation. Once I finished the first one, I decided to make some caramel apples. I've wanted to make them since Halloween, so it's about time. Can you guess which is mine and which is Dan's?

And once I had that nice, little break, I went to work on my second map.

This week:

Our print lab says that our Christmas cards and some of our clients gifts will be delivered on Tuesday, so I can start addressing envelopes and packaging those gifts.
Dan and I need to buy/make family gifts.
This week I'll be putting a discussion question or two on our Facebook fan page. I'm looking to get some feedback for next year, so any input would be awesome! Also, on Tuesday I'll have the FINAL drawing to give away a monogram canvas. I can't believe it's been four weeks already!

Ready...set...JUMP!

2009-12-12T22:28:00.000-05:00

Today I was looking through our California pictures from January. I was originally trying to find an extra picture to print with a handful of others, but ended up taking a little trip down memory lane. I had forgotten about the following series until I saw it again today, and I thought I would share the giggles.

These were spontaneously taken on Venice Beach—by a friend that we stayed with during our visit. My hair is much different now! I know Dan will disagree, but I like my current 'do much better. ;)

Here, there, and everywhere...

2009-12-11T23:04:00.005-05:00

Most of my days are pretty random. Even when I do have main things that I want to get accomplished, it seems things will pop into my head from hours or days before and I want to write them down or get them done right then. Otherwise, my thoughts are fleeting and won't come back until hours or days later, if at all. Or, my day might get diverted by something unexpected. While I normally take the time to notice and appreciate the little things, most of the time it's just easier to share the larger things.

So, here are a couple of the bigger things today:

Today was the last day of a 6-week business course I've been taking online. The class was offered by the BAKERY gals, and I would totally take another class from them. I learned so much in the last six weeks. Now I need to organize everything, do a little soul searching, catch up on unfinished homework, and get ready to kick booty in 2010.
I noticed that one of my paper vendors is offering some new pocket folds, so I updated my event request form for stationery design. This form is nine pages of FUN—to me at least—gathering details about the event and stationery pieces, and showing different options.
I thought today was Saturday until I realized that it's actually Friday. That's cause for celebration, right?

What are you doing with your actual Saturday?
Happy weekend!

Bring it on...

2009-12-10T23:10:00.003-05:00

Last night the IT team at church had a dinner to celebrate all of their volunteers. Dan has been volunteering there for a few years now, playing various technology-related roles. It was nice meeting other IT employees and volunteers (and their spouses), and seeing those I already know. The highlights included a super cool Crossroads-branded name tag (above), computer-shaped sugar cookies complete with mini M&Ms for keyboard keys, a waffle dessert, a hilarious IT song recorded by the band, and the whole evening really.

Tonight has reaffirmed that I am much more productive in the evenings. It's no secret that I've always been a night owl (thanks dad), and I guess the last couple years of day job + evening biz has created a habit for me. During the day I get distracted and have a lot of 'what was I doing?' moments. Am I too young to have senior moments? Seriously.

Tonight was definitely kick-butt. I finally finished designing our Christmas cards and ordered them—all 100...oy! I've been working on our address list this week, so that should be finished just in time. I also designed and ordered gifts for our 2009 clients. I can't wait for everything to be delivered. It's funny that we have no gifts in mind or purchased for family, but client gifts are done. Fifteen days until Christmas, but who's counting?

On a totally different note: if you remember Joe and Maura from their maternity session last month, their little boy was born yesterday! Hopefully their newborn session will be scheduled soon to introduce you to their new little one. :)

Tomorrow: another day working from home and wrestling with my task list. Wish me luck.

Just enjoying the view...

2009-12-08T23:14:00.003-05:00

This is the view from my classroom window this semester. The tree and lights are new additions since last Tuesday. Every week I get to look out at the Ohio River, and every so often I'll catch a glimpse of it from other windows in the building. It's like I forget that the river is there, and then I get little bursts of beauty out of nowhere. I know the Ohio River isn't that great of a sight with its muddy brown water, but it makes me really love this campus.

The sock party verdict: I got a decent pair of socks. I started out with a really cute pair—brown ones with puffy reindeer on them, but someone took them from me and I was stuck with their black toe socks with a Christmas scene on them. I like toe socks so I'll live, but I really liked the reindeer socks. I tried to pull the but-I-came-in-on-my-day-off-and-this-is-what-I-get card, but she wasn't falling for it.

Once I got home, I decided to pull out our candle lights for the windows. If I could keep them out all year long I totally would. I love them that much. So far only the front lights are plugged in because we need to gather extension cords for some of the back windows. Note to husband: I would like an outlet put in under every window that doesn't already have one, pretty please. What I love most—or maybe second most—about our candle lights is that they each have a built-it timer. Once you plug them in the first time, they will come on at that time every day and turn off after eight hours. I don't have to worry about plugging in and unplugging 16 different lights all around the house. And it's a lovely glow from the bedroom windows while I fall asleep. Thus ends my Public Service Announcement on candle lights with built-in timers.

Until next time... I get to work from home the rest of the week. Maybe time will slow down a bit.

Working on my ability to say no...

2009-12-07T23:25:00.000-05:00

That's a batch of brownies in the oven. Brownies that were originally going to be brownie cookies in little muffin cups, until I realized that I didn't have any little muffin cups. And all because I couldn't decline an invitation to the Sock Party at work tomorrow...on my day off.

I don't know if it's the itch to bake something, or the desire to get a cute pair of socks from the exchange, or the need to eat and socialize with women at work so they don't think I'm Ms. Anti-Social. Maybe it's a combination. Either way, I agreed to attend the party after I'm done teaching tomorrow.

Did I mention it's my day off? Here's hoping I score a cute pair of socks.

From our living room...

2009-12-06T23:18:00.004-05:00

Today was not how I had planned. I wanted to finish putting out the Christmas decorations, work on my to-do list, and marvel at my productivity. Instead, I didn't get much sleep last night and wasn't feeling too great most of the day. I got home from church, ate lunch, relaxed on the couch, took a two-hour nap, and didn't want to do much of anything.

I felt better after dinner, so I was able to accomplish at least a couple things today. I'm just not ready for Monday—I need more weekend. Most people like the weekend because they can relax. I like the weekend because my day job doesn't get in the way of the work I actually want/need to do. I'm crazy like that.

There was one highlight to the evening, and that was listening to Craig Lyons perform online tonight—right from our living room. Remember our friend, Craig, who moved to California? Since Dan is a part of Craig's Paperbird Project, he joined Second Life to support and check out the performances. Is all of this Greek to you? Me, too. Anyway, one of my favorite songs by him is called Change, and he played it for me (and the rest of the audience) tonight. Exciting!

Here's a screen shot that Dan took of Craig's performance. That's actually Dan standing on the left, with the paper bird over his shoulder. He's just adorable as an avatar... ha.

Curiosity killed the cat...

2009-12-05T23:05:00.002-05:00

Let's just hope that doesn't happen to either of our cats, because they are really curious about the Christmas tree that has suddenly invaded their space. If you can see, Urple is under the tree while Merry is in front of it. My little Christmas babies. I can't believe it's been three years since Dan adopted and surprised me with them.

We brought the tree up from the basement tonight, turned on some Christmas music, and put it together pretty quickly. Because of its size we have to put it near the back windows and fireplace, but it works out well since more people drive by the back of our house than the front. The rest of the decorations will have to wait until tomorrow.

On a different note, we got our second AirPort Express the other day and Dan had a field day connecting things to it. It's really nice to have multiple things on the network that aren't wireless—like printers that are upstairs while I'm downstairs. He also got the wireless on our laser printer working again. That printer was almost thrown out the window numerous times. So, hooray for technology that doesn't hate me anymore!

I'll spare you from any other boring chatter. Do you have your holiday decorations out yet? Shopping done? Oh, speaking of shopping...if you like our monogram canvases and want to win one, we have two drawings left. Check out details here.

An evening with Lewis Black...

2009-12-04T16:32:00.005-05:00

Last night Dan and I had the pleasure of seeing Lewis Black, a comedian that we really like, at the Taft Theater in Cincinnati. He rants about politics, among many other things, and uses vulgar language. He's not for everyone, but we like a lot of his stuff and last night was no exception. He was scheduled to perform a year or so ago, but that show was canceled. I'm glad he decided to schedule another show here.

Right now he's touring with John Bowman. We had never heard of him, but the opening stand-up from him was hilarious. I might have to look up more of his stuff.

It's a bad picture, but we had pretty good seats in the second row of the balcony.

Signs of Christmas...

2009-12-02T20:37:00.002-05:00

We don't have any of our decorations out yet, so our client Christmas cards are pretty much the first signs of the holiday in our house. I'm hoping we can get everything out this weekend. We were too busy enjoying our Thanksgiving laziness last weekend to haul boxes from the basement. I'm looking forward to our tree, stockings, garland/lights down the staircase, and "candles" in the windows. What do you call those things? It's all so warm and calming.

Above are some quick snaps of a client card order that was delivered today. The cards were printed on watercolor paper—you can see some of the texture on the back. I delivered the cards already and they are loved, which I obviously love. Now I just need to come up with a design for our own cards before they end up like last year's design...non-existent.

You'll have to excuse me, my task list is calling...

Can someone tell me...

2009-12-01T23:31:00.003-05:00

Where did 2009 go?!

Good things today:

Tuesday means teaching in the morning, and taking the day off from my day job.
I had ordered something online yesterday, which was the last day to be eligible for a mail-in rebate. Apparently Vicki and Victoria are not interchangeable when it comes to billing my credit card, so I found out today that my order was canceled. Really?! I had to make a few phone calls, but in the end they gave me an instant rebate instead of a mail-in one. That's much better.
I hung out at Crossroads while Dan had a techie meeting, and got a little further on Sonya and Eddie's wedding invitation. I also pulled another name for our Monogram Canvas Giveaway. Two down, and two to go. It's been fun!
We got last-minute, free tickets to see Chicago in Cincinnati—the musical, not the band, although I would've been happy to see the band also. It was good and funny, and included talented, talented people.
I decided that I'd like to post almost every day during the month of December. Like is the key word here. You can stop laughing now.
When we got home, Dan plugged in an Apple AirPort Express that was delivered today. We actually bought two, but for some reason the other will arrive tomorrow. Now I can play my songs in iTunes and hear them through the living room surround system. I need to be careful, or I'll wake up the neighbors. ;)

Not-so-good things today:

I can't believe it's December first. I have too much to do before the end of the year.
I have no idea what to talk about every day. Have any ideas? Let's hear 'em.

Comments are back...

2009-11-27T23:22:00.002-05:00

I was told recently that our comments weren't working. Dan and I are still trying to figure out why the inline comments won't work, but in the meantime they're working in pop-up form.

If you guys notice any other issues, please let me know so we can fix them!
Muchas gracias.

Joe + Maura = Baby Boy [life collection]

2009-11-19T19:30:00.001-05:00

Last week I explained a bit about the group of friends that are connected to Dan, and you got to meet Aaron and Susan. This week, you get to meet another adorable couple from the group. In fact, their two due dates are only days apart, so it'll be interesting to see who arrives first.

Meet Joe, Maura, and their baby boy...

Getting Joe to smile naturally was a feat in itself, so getting him mid-laugh was like a triple score. I'm not sure what we were talking about here—probably something about making sure he ends up on awkwardfamilyphotos.com in 20 years.

I'm glad that Maura wanted some bare belly shots during the session. We were losing sunlight fast, but we got a couple cute ones. Sorry internet, but this is as revealing as it gets for you...

Aaron + Susan = Baby Girl [life collection]

2009-11-09T21:10:00.001-05:00

I'm not sure I've thought much about it before, but I married into a good-looking group of friends. I really did. Some of them grew up and went to school with Dan, while others met through college or other avenues. And now that a few of the couples are expecting, I'm sure their little ones will be too cute for words.

One such couple, Aaron and Susan, had a maternity session with us over the weekend. Let me tell you—I can only hope for an ounce of the glow, peace, and beauty that Susan has. Their little girl is only about a month from being due, and they won't share her name yet, but we're all really excited for her arrival.

Meet Aaron, Susan, and their baby girl...

Mary & Kevin: Part Two [wedding collection]

2009-10-29T21:07:00.001-04:00

Last weekend I had the chance to tag along with Sheri for the wedding of Mary and Kevin. If you haven't seen the first part of their day yet, see it here. The second part includes the ceremony and reception. So, without further ado...

The inside of the church was fabulous! After a bit of the ceremony had passed, I was able to sneak upstairs to the balcony.

Husband and wife, after the ceremony. It was chilly outside, and Kevin was sweet to give Mary his jacket. ;)

The reception was at the 20th Century Theater in Oakley (Cincinnati), Ohio. I had been there once before to see a couple musicians, and even looked into it for my own reception, but had never been there for an actual reception. If I ever get a chance to photograph an event there again, there are some neat spots I'd like to try.

The details at the reception, put together by Tres Chic. I loved the center pieces...

Details and more details...

To Sheri, a big thanks for asking me to help! It was a lot of fun working together. And to Mary and Kevin, thanks for welcoming us on your big day. I hope the honeymoon was wonderful, and that the weather back home is much warmer than it was here. :)

Mary & Kevin: Part One [wedding collection]

2009-10-27T17:35:00.003-04:00

Last weekend I had the chance to tag along with Sheri for the wedding of Mary and Kevin. In trying to come up with the words to describe their day, what comes to mind is a reflection of the couple themselves—relaxed, kind, and unique.

The event planning of Kristen and Rick made the day flow so well. It was so nice working with them. I had never worked with Kristen at an event, but it turned out that she and I worked together for a little bit during high school! I'm constantly reminded how small this world is.

While assisting Sheri, I was able to play around with alternate angles and detail shots. Since Dan gave me the new 100mm macro lens for my birthday (our first L lens!), I was able to test it out on ring shots and other fun things. :)

Check out the first part of Mary and Kevin's day...

The church was beautiful! I'll have indoor shots in part two.

Loved the shoes, dudes!

The younger groomsman was so cute. He was all about the cameras. As for the older one...he definitely had a special relationship with the groom.

Sheri has more images of the girls, but here's one of the bride before the ceremony.

Hello, my favorite!

Part two coming soon!

Fun on a farm [family collection]

2009-10-21T13:27:00.004-04:00

Last weekend we had fun hanging out on a local farm and chasing around a family with two adorable boys. You may remember them from last Fall, especially from the teeter-totter shots. Since this family happens to be one of our neighbors and we see the boys all the time, it wasn't until I went to find last year's session links that I realized how much the boys have grown.

This farm was a new location for us. Mom put a lot of thought into a place that would keep the boys occupied, and this farm did not disappoint. There was a petting zoo, pony ride, hayride, pumpkin patch, corn maze, bonfire for cooking s'mores—you name it.

I really had to restrain myself from posting more of the session. There were a lot of cute moments.
Say hello to the C family...

One look at these big eyes and my heart melts to the floor...

On the hayride...

The older brother was beyond excited to find this big fuzzy bug in the corn maze...

This is one of my faaaaaaavorites...

This was sweet while it lasted... :)

To the C family—thanks for allowing us to hang out with you at such a fun farm. We're really excited to show you the rest of the session, and see how much the boys grow by next Fall. :)

Last bit of summer [family collection]

2009-10-01T23:15:00.003-04:00

Now that we're a couple weeks into Fall and the weather has decided to take a dive, this session was like a little goodbye to Summer. This session almost didn't happen, but we're so glad it did. When Angie called to check our availability, she mentioned buying white dresses for all of her girls. She really wanted a summer session with the girls in their dresses, and it looked like that weekend—the last weekend in September—would be the last possible chance.

Session day came along and it was a drizzly, chilly, mess of a day. To us, an overcast day is great as long as it's not raining. While we love sun flare and the right kind of sunlight, the images from an overcast day are—believe it or not—absolutely fabulous. But mom really wanted the sunlight and a warm day, so we decided to cancel the session and watch for a better weekend.

Long story short, I was able to convince mom that the images would turn out great with the overcast day and white dresses, as long as it wasn't too cold for the kids, and as soon as we decided to give it another go the chilly weather turned around for us. Dan and I got to meet such a beautiful family. I can't imagine having five kids, but the patience and love we saw during that hour was truly inspiring.

I have more images I want to post, since I know Angie is looking for certain shots, but I'll keep some a secret for now. :) Meet the R family...

I have a fetish for the footsies. Dan kindly obliges my fetish. His view:

My view:

I'll give you one guess where the kids got their awesome eyes...

A huge thanks to Todd and Angie for jumping in so quickly when we were so unsure of the weather, and trusting us to capture their beautiful family doing what they love to do. It was a great way to say goodbye to the Summer.

Labor Day | Riverfest

2009-09-20T12:32:00.002-04:00

A couple weeks ago we went to Riverfest on the Ohio River, otherwise known as the WEBN Fireworks. This is something I always look forward to, not because I have some fetish with crowds or traffic--quite the opposite--but because one of my brothers goes the day before to save the best seats in the house. I've never experienced fireworks as great as these.

This year we took both cameras with us. Dan mainly used our wide angle zoom lens because we thought it would look cool to have a shot with both bridges and a full view of the action. He also used our tripod. I used our 50mm 1.4 because it's my favorite lens and I wanted to see how it would do. I mainly shot from my knee or lap, depending on how I was sitting. You can only get so comfortable on a seat of concrete. It was really neat to sort through the images and see how we got completely different shots of the same fireworks.

Sitting on the Cincinnati side, looking toward the Kentucky side.

Here comes the barge full o' fireworks, around 8:00p.

The wind was not in our favor this year, so there was some smoke and debris. While the fireworks weren't the sharpest in this shot, I thought they were neat coming from both bridges and the barge.

The infamous waterfall from the bridge, during a tribute to Michael Jackson. Dan's shot:

My shot:

Revealed: Sonya & Eddie's Save the Date

2009-09-14T22:15:00.002-04:00

I always like to get permission before reveals like this, since invitations can be a very hush-hush matter for some couples. Since the STD's have been sent and received, and the bride is okay with sharing, all is good to go. :)

Sonya came to us pretty early in the summer, soon after Eddie proposed, asking if we could do her wedding invitations and some other pieces. Seriously?! We'd love to! I had a lot of questions to ask her so I could visualize her and Eddie's big day and the details of the stationery, but since they both live out of state (and in different states, mind you) I needed to whip up something she could fill out digitally. Sonya was fantastic with her feedback, giving us suggestions if things were confusing, etc., and that's something we're glad to hear so we can make things better.

I found out that the wedding décor would include cherry blossoms, the colors watermelon—which we matched with a paper called Pink Azalea—and black, and contemporary details. Sonya, Eddie, and I collaborated during the month of July to come up with a Save the Date that they both loved, and that the recipients enjoyed as well!

The color palette:
Photo by szeretlek_ma on flickr.

Sonya decided to do a magnet with flat backing card. I think these are really great because they're so versatile. Recipients can use the magnet to attach the entire card to their fridge, or just keep the magnet itself as a reminder. Even after the wedding is over, guests can keep the magnet as a memento. Since it doesn't say "Save the Date," it's timeless.

The hand-drawn cherry blossom branch was carried through the card and the magnet:

All wrapped and ready to be delivered to the bride:

Next, we'll be working on the formal invitation with response postcard and map card, rehearsal invitation, program, and other goodies that will pull Sonya and Eddie's wedding together and make it uniquely them. I'm really excited that they chose us to design and make their wedding stationery, but I'm even more excited to see how everything comes together.

Pardon the dust...

2009-08-28T14:12:00.000-04:00

After (how many?) years of having the same blog template, and almost two years with the same banner and color scheme, the blog needed a makeover. I still have the same banner at the top as a placeholder, but I'll be saying goodbye to the life+balance reminder very soon. It's been a good reminder.

Did I ever tell you my word for 2009? I chose it in January or February, but forgot to share.
Margin: (dictionary definitions) an amount allowed beyond what is needed; a limit in a condition or process, beyond or below which something is no longer possible or acceptable; (my definition) giving myself extra time and space beyond what is necessary, so that I can rest, enjoy, and not run a back-to-back stressful life.

Is it working so far? That's yet to be determined.

Anyway, pardon the dust as I figure out where I want to place everything. Also, I'm open to ideas for my next banner. Muchas gracias.

A dash here, a dash there...

2009-08-14T23:57:00.003-04:00

It's time for a quick and dirty weekend update. Most of these images are from my iPhone—just quick shots to document some things lately.

We bought used kayaks this summer! This shot was from our adventure in Brookville, Indiana. It was my first time on a river with rapids. I got stuck a few times and probably dropped a few choice words, but I got to know my kayak a little better and didn't flip. Seems like a successful trip to me.
I got a craving for sushi one day, but instead of going out I got the idea to make our own. These were our versions of California rolls and cream cheese rolls. They were okay, but I might leave it up to the professionals in the future.
I stopped into Staples tonight and noticed that they sell some kraft-covered notebooks. I picked up a ~~couple~~ handful since they were on sale.
Our eat-in table has been a packaging station and showcase for business stuff lately. We've been ordering kraft paper samples to see which weights and shades we like best, and what matches best with the stuff we already have. You wouldn't believe how many kinds of kraft paper there are!
We ordered a portable, postcard version of our gallery collections. We didn't order these from our print lab because that would have required ordering 25 of each card. Instead, we got these from moo.com and the glossy postcard paper is surprisingly like the UV coated paper in our [gallery collection] album, so they match well.
We also ordered some mini cards that serve multiple purposes. Mainly, it's fun to carry around the key chain, pop it open, and slide someone a card. Our contact information is on the reverse. The cards are matte and very smooth, and we're already thinking of other reasons to buy more.

I have other things, but I have to be up early tomorrow so I'll save them for another post.
Happy weekend!

One dreamy album...

2009-07-31T22:02:00.000-04:00

Hooray for the weekend! What did you think of our printed goodies in the previous post? Last night I ordered some other little goodies that I'm excited for, too. It feels good to finally knock these types of tasks off of my list.

If you happen to follow our twitter and/or facebook accounts, then you may have heard about a sample album that we designed and received recently. Although it's a smaller album, measuring in at 6x6 inches, it is no less than stunning. With the full bleed and flush mount pages (printing all the way to the edges with no split in the middle), you'd seriously think that you're looking at a larger album. There are other sizes available, including 9x9 and 12x12, but this one works well for a display sample.

The photos from Joshua's newborn session were used to design this album. It comes in a pretty black box. Black doesn't match our packaging, but I think I can live with it. ;)

The front cover...

The back cover...

Full bleed page spread of the precious bebe...

You can see a bit of the page texture here. It resists those pesky finger prints nicely.

Side view of the page and album thickness...

What do you think? Dreamy?

On a different note, I can't believe I'm saying goodbye to July already. It was a pretty good month. Here's hoping August will be even better.

Printed goodies...

2009-07-21T23:14:00.002-04:00

[Insert paragraph here saying, "I'm not dead...I want to write more...blah blah blah," and let's move on to some super fun things.]

Since (somewhere around) the beginning of the year, my task list has included the creation of branded materials. Once our website was launched in April, and we had an updated logo and brand, the need for said materials was especially high on the list. Of course, I'm not mentioning any names, but there's one person in this house who's incredibly indecisive and couldn't decide on a design. WHO COULD THAT BE?!

A couple weeks ago when our print lab had a sale, we decided to remedy the situation. We went with a simple design that matches our website, and we couldn't be happier that we actually have printed materials. AND our lab has art recycled paper that works perfectly for us. I will make a couple of changes for our next round of printing, but for now I'm giddy like a school girl at how cool this stuff is.

Posters
Rather than matching the website, we were drawn to a funky design of the posters. The paper is also different for these, a semi-gloss with a UV coating. We were totally surprised by the thickness. They are about 11x17 in size.

Folded note cards
It's way cool how the printed kraft paper looks like the cards are actually kraft.

Referral cards
They include a special message about our referral program on the back.

Appointment cards
It'll be easy to setup appointments by circling the month and date on the back. You also see the front of our accordion piece.

Accordion cards
These cards are a favorite. They include information about all of our divisions.

The back panel includes information about our referral program. In the blank space we're going to put a mini chocolate envelope with the referral cards. I can't wait to start distributing these.

So, that's one big thing that I've been up to around here. Hopefully I'll be able to post more sooner than later.

Thought for Wednesday: what are you excited about lately?

Precious Joshua: Newborn

2009-06-01T23:53:00.002-04:00

You may remember the little one that graced my blog a few weeks ago in color and black/white. That little one was Joshua, and I got to spend some time Saturday with him and his parents, Scott and Mary Ellen. Joshua is and has been such a blessing to their lives, but I know that he's even more blessed to have them as parents. They are wonderful people who have impacted our lives greatly in the few years we've known them.

This session was extra sweet because it was Rye Designs' first newborn session and my first solo gig. It's hard to believe that, but Dan and I always shoot sessions together. Since he was out of town, I had to be confident and bring the awesome. I missed having his angles and ideas, but I had a good vision going in and I'm pretty proud of myself.

Meet Joshua and his fabulous green nursery...

I love all of the friends and blankets he has! (Wide angle lens!)

Once we went into Scott and Mary Ellen's bedroom for some shots, I could have stayed there all day. The sunlight coming in through the windows was heavenly.

Have I ever confessed my undying love for our 50mm 1.4? I didn't want to make our 1.8 feel bad, but MAN! That lens was locking the focus and rocking the house! I used it for the majority of the session.

This has to be my favorite shot right now. I toyed with the notion of cropping it, but left it uncropped because I liked the space, and mom and dad may want to turn it into a canvas. No pressure, but if they don't I might! ;)

Toward the end of the session, we headed to the living room couch for some relaxed family shots. Here's mama with her baby...and her other baby. :)

So what do you think of our first newborn session? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Scott and Mary Ellen (and Josh!), thanks so much for letting me come into your home, move things around, and place Josh in positions he may not have cared for. Your little family is a big reminder of how great God's love and timing really are.

May 27th is kind of a big deal...

2009-05-27T23:19:00.001-04:00

Just a quick one tonight. Dan and I celebrated two ______________ years of marriage today. They've been so great and included such a range of emotion that I don't even have an adjective to describe them. Awesome? Sweet? Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?

We had a hot date tonight at a local restaurant, got a bottle of wine with dinner, and I enjoyed every minute. After my 1.5 glasses of wine I almost didn't make it down the restaurant steps without Dan's arm to hang onto––just call me lightweight. We came home, watched Wipeout, and laughed until we couldn't breathe. Then, we had ice cream. And it was perfect.

Now, Dan's packing for his annual weekend trip with the boys. This year, instead of boating, they're going hiking. He really deserves a good weekend with the boys and the outdoors. Hey girls, where's our annual weekend trip!?

Anyway, if you'd like to read up on our story, here are some old posts to keep you occupied for a day or five...

May 27, 2005
I've closed my old blog from the public, so I can't link to the post, but this was the day Dan and I decided to make it official.

May 27, 2006
Our engagement at Niagara Falls, Canada

May 27, 2007
Bachelorette / bachelor party weekend
Super eventful rehearsal day
The wedding prep and ceremony
The reception and introduction of Rye Designs domain
(Wow, I didn't realize I posted our first logo...talk about a flashback.)
The honeymoon in Jamaica

May 27, 2008
First anniversary
(Yes, cake that's been frozen for a year can be really good.)

Here's to our fabulous two years, and to infinitely more.

The icing incident...

2009-05-21T23:03:00.003-04:00

Four years ago today we had, what Dan called today, an icing incident. I love that he remembers milestones and funny things, too.

It was Laura and Ricky's wedding and what seemed like a COM 102 team reunion. That last part doesn't mean much to the story except that we all sat at the same table and one of them took a photo ~~for blackmail~~ – I think it was Sheri. Although, the team did play a role when I walked in with my date (ahem...Dan), and most of them said, Hey, where's Ryan?! [Insert awkward silence here.] I guess that would be MY FAULT for not sending out the memo that we broke up a month prior, but really, who says that right in front of the new guy?

Anyway...Laura and Ricky were busy being a bride and groom, talking to their guests and having photos taken. When it was time for them to cut the cake, we didn't get to see any action! No cake smashing, no messy faces, nothing. So, Dan and I (or maybe it was just me) decided that if the happy couple wasn't going to smear icing across their faces that someone was going to, darn it!

Unedited photo and all––just grabbed from my EHD: it wasn't exactly smearing that took place, but rather a loving dollop. If you look closely, you can see the icing on my nose. And it had to be cleaned off somehow...

Signature gallery collection...

2009-05-10T17:10:00.001-04:00

I wish we had our Rye Designs blog already so I could post our album/book there, but the time will come. I did post yesterday in case you missed it (twice in one weekend, WOW!).

For some time now, we've had gallery layouts sketched out and floating around here just wishing for a home other than notebook paper – waiting to give our photography clients ideas for displaying their photos. When our print lab announced a book sale a couple weeks ago, the idea clicked and we went with it. We decided on an 8x12 album with hinged pages that lay flat, UV coating on each page, and a custom designed cover.

OH MY GOODNESS! When we received the album this past week, I could not believe my eyes. The hinged pages are normally nice and sturdy, but the UV coating made them shine like nothing I can describe. And I absolutely love how the design turned out. I'm not sure if I want anyone to touch this book now, not even me. ;)

Only ideas that we would use, or have used, in our own home went into the book, so it's truly a Rye Designs signature collection.

Spine of the book.

You might recognize this first collection if you've been to our house. It's pretty much the first thing you see coming in the front door, and makes a huge statement. We love it.

Another collection, and a glimpse of hinged pages laying flat.

I couldn't be more happy about the book and, besides being a sample of quality and possibility, I hope it brings a ton of inspiration. Pure awesome.

Hello May...

2009-05-09T21:24:00.003-04:00

May is a month that rocks for many reasons. Mainly, it means that summer is right around the corner, and Dan and I will be celebrating another year together. I always get sappy thinking of the way our story came together and the days in May that mark a milestone for us. Actually, yesterday (May 8th) was the day we re-met...

I found Dan on Facebook the evening of April 25th, 2005 – back in the day before FB had homepages or tabs or people over the age of 30 (or something like that). I sent him a message to say hey stranger I haven't seen you in like three years, and had a response by the next morning. We caught up, remembered the "old" days, laughed about them, and acted as if it was three years prior and nothing had changed. But really, everything had changed...everything except our feelings for each other and the fact that I reeeeeeallllly wished I had kissed him back when I had the chance.

He joked that his apartment was on my way home from UC and that I could just swing by whenever I wanted, but our schedules didn't work out that way. He was going to be in a friend's wedding out of town and had things to do beforehand. I knew his birthday was May 6th, so I wrote on his FB wall and sent a text message telling him Happy Birthday, and that I hoped someone had sang to him. I heard that was the highlight of his trip. ;)

On May 8th – Mother's Day of that year – we finally had time in our schedules to hang out for the first time in three years. I had brunch with family that morning, and Dan had a graduation party to attend, but later in the afternoon I headed down to his apartment. While we took a walk around town, had dinner, and watched a movie (or something like that), we realized how much hadn't changed... how much had changed... how the universe just hits you over the head with perfect timing, and how I wasn't going to pass up my chance to kiss him that time.

The rest is history, but may be continued at a later date.

On a totally different note, we had dinner with friends Scott and Mary Ellen last night and met their new little one. We'll be having a newborn session with him soon, but we took our camera along and grabbed a few shots – hope it's okay that I'm posting them, mom and dad! I couldn't decide between color and black/white, so you get both. Enjoy!

Love the LITTLE TOES!

Tomorrow I'll have a post with peeks of the album we ordered recently. Oh man, it's fan-freaking-tastically delicious. The pictures won't do it justice, but I'll show them anyway.

Until then... Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers and moms-to-be out there.

Woopsy daisy...

2009-04-22T23:45:00.001-04:00

If you've visited this blog since around April 1st, which I obviously haven't done, I apologize for the missing graphics and photos. No, I wasn't boycotting images or going minimalist around here. I just wasn't thinking when we switched over to our new domain. WOOPSY!

Speaking of the new domain, you may know that ryedesigns.com became available and we purchased it. You may also know that our new website went live on April 1st! I can't give Dan enough props and respect for all of his hard work implementing my design. He had to put up with a lot of back-and-forth and indecision on my part, and then some of the normal web-coding woes. At one point we had all three of our laptops out on the couch, checking to make sure the site was compatible with every browser. If we had our way, Internet Explorer would be banned from all computers and burned. Seriously. Do yourself a favor and download Firefox.

I really enjoy looking through our site and knowing that we have something to show our work and explain how we roll. Even more than that, I dig that Dan setup an entire backend (Content Management System) that makes it super easy to update and manage our site. We have more site plans in the works, too, such as an integrated blog!

Without too many details, we were actually mentioned on twitter and gained 70 visits to our site from 16 countries IN ONE DAY soon after it launched – from that ONE tweet. Boo-yah!

http://ryedesigns.com

What you may not know is that I was called back to do contract work for my previous job at the beginning of March. After I expected to have the month of March to continue working on our website and business, I was thrown back into 40-hour work weeks and doing Rye Designs stuff nights and weekends. The biggest shift, besides having two full-time jobs again and trying to deal with creative block, is the dinner arrangements around here. I got used to making/having a homemade dinner every night, and now the verbiage of choice seems to be, "So...where shall we stop for dinner tonight?"

Other happenings recently...

I finished a website redesign for an ongoing client, which Dan has been implementing pretty quickly. I'll have screenshots when that launches.
We've ordered quite a few photography samples for our showroom, including gallery wraps and prints. After seeing gallery wraps, regular prints just aren't the same. Ooooo boy, that texture and quality is heavenly.
I've been designing our header/footer for letterheads and such, to go with our new website, and having such a hard time with it. Not because I have no ideas, but because I have too many! A blog or facebook poll might be in order if I can't narrow them down soon.
Our friends, Scott and Mary Ellen, had their baby boy tonight! We're so stoked to meet little Joshua and have a newborn session with him.
I'm ready for the warm weather to come back! How about you?

Now to get some sleep. Goodnight.

The girl who forgot how to blog...

2009-03-05T02:17:00.002-05:00

Seriously. I haven't forgotten about my blog – on the contrary, I think about it everyday. And every day that passes greets me with more PRESSURE that I don't have a handful of photos and interesting commentary on my life. Let's just relieve that pressure now with a short list of things going on around here, and call ourselves even. Of course, twitter, facebook and flickr are ways of following my incredibly mundane happenings in between posts.

Shall we? Bullets, please!

At the end of January I was laid off from my full time job. I was given notice of my "job eviction" the first day I went back to work after California. Welcome back, the economy sucks, Friday is your last day! I worked with some great people who organized a dinner on my last day, gave me flowers and chocolates, and a lunch the next week for those that couldn't make dinner.
I've been devoting my time to Rye Designs, research, brainstorming, and finding all sorts of cool things online. I wake up every day, wipe off my wet cheek from Merry's wake-up-call licking, open up all the blinds and let sunshine fill the house with light. I figure out what's for dinner (you can call me Betty or Martha or somebody), work on the biz, and enjoy it all. I know that my resume needs to be finished (thanks for the constant reminders, Dan). I know that I need to apply for some part-time jobs, I know, I know. BUT THIS IS MY DREAM COMING TRUE and I don't want to turn away from it now. Our bills, however, have a different idea of what my dreams should be and I'm not amused.
Valentine's Day was a nice, low-key day. Just time at home together, that's how we roll. Dan went into work that day and I had a special dinner and dessert planned, and I decided to throw together some framed California photos for his desk at work. Mucho easy, and I was happy to devote the day to him. Of course, he walks in with an ice cream cake for me. Chocolate is always appreciated. And he always knows how to surprise me.
Remember Becca? I showed some of her headshots a couple months ago? Well, we also did a blog re-design for her and it went live recently. Check it: Sweet...with a side of Snarky. Tell all of your snarky friends.
This year's all-church 6-week journey has started. It's called Reset and we're on week two. It's all about resetting your thoughts, assumptions, and myths about Jesus and truly learning who he is and what he's about. I heart these journeys and the learning/friendship that can develop from being in a small group for six weeks. I miss being in a group with Scott and Mary Ellen – hope you guys are loving your new group!
New music I'm digging: Griffin House and Charlie Mars. GH is from Cincinnati and he came to play in Newport last month. Charlie was his opening act.
I was feeling a little sentimental last weekend because it's been a year since we closed on our house. I still look around and feel the need to pinch myself. Picture from last year after our offer was accepted...

Those are the big things of February. I still don't feel like I'm caught up, but that's okay. I'd like to squeeze blogging into my daily schedule somehow – stop laughing – but I'd have a better chance of giving blood, or not covering my eyes from a puke scene on tv. I'll see what I can do, though.

I almost forgot! Since more people have been visiting our website recently and our old mess was staring them in the face, we posted this today...swoon.

After some heavy consideration, our services will stay the same but will no longer state "websites | photography | stationery." Rye Designs will now be a photography, design & development studio and I'm really excited about that. It gives us room to take on various types of projects and expand in the future.

Now that I've gone completely off my sleeping schedule the past couple days, and it's two in the morning, it's time to say goodnight.

Goodnight.

Returning from extended blog vacation...

2009-02-11T23:31:00.004-05:00

Alternate title: Pictures aplenty...
Or: Still finding sand in unusual places...

I finally went through our California photos this week and found my favorites. I know they say you should dig right into editing while the pictures (mentally and physically) are fresh, but I need some time away from my photos to really appreciate them. Going back through these a couple weeks later brought back so many memories and much appreciation for the absolute BEAUTY of our vacation. Time away from our world here at home, away from the business and clients, with friends and family, with each other in a place that wasn't below zero degrees in temperature – was BEAUTIFUL. PERFECT. Just what we needed.

Friday 1/16

Flight at 7:00a with a windchill that could only be described with an Eskimo's vocabulary. Flight, however, was not delayed or canceled, making us very happy.
We stayed with our friends for the first four nights.
That night we went to a studio taping of 'Til Death, which was hilarious. The cast even did a little stand-up in the beginning and talked to the audience. Sadly, the producers didn't have an air date for that episode, but we'll be watching for it.

Saturday 1/17

Dave and Kathy have annual passes to Disneyland, so we bought a 3-day pass ahead of time and spent a day at the Disneyland park. The other Disney option there is the California Adventure park – we went there a different day.
I only picked a couple shots from Disney, otherwise there are mainly themed attractions and scenery of the parks. The fireworks show that night was awesome, though. It's no Cinderella castle, but Sleeping Beauty's castle was very nice with the light show.

Doesn't this look like a movie poster or something?

Love the star lights on the castle.

Sunday 1/18

Sunday we all hit up Rodeo Drive for upscale shopping that made me cringe a little more with each price tag. Not because I wanted the stuff in the shops, but because I can't believe people spend THAT MUCH MONEY on their fashionables. Really.
The rest of the day was spent with our personal tour guides around SoCal, hitting up Universal's CityWalk and having dinner at Hard Rock.
That night we saw Craig Lyons play at a bar in Santa Monica. He was rockin' as usual, and especially so with his new band.

Monday 1/19

Monday we headed out to the beaches. Venice Beach was first. We walked around and saw a lot of the culture there (aka hippie people) – very interesting and cool.
Next was Santa Monica Pier for exploring, watching the sunset, and having dinner at Bubba Gump's (shrimp soup, shrimp gumbo...). As soon as I saw the ferris wheel, I was like a giddy school girl. But not to ride it, just for the photos. Great day.

This one and the next turned out just as I imagined before I shot them. I'm in love.

This photo starts Santa Monica Pier. I love all the people in this shot.

Yes, the sky was really that blue.

Tuesday 1/20

Went to Disneyland's California Adventure park where they have the roller coaster rides and other fun stuff. I didn't dig it as much as the other park, though. Not surprising.
Afterwards, we drove to my sister's house and stayed there the next four nights. Risa and her family have an amazing house and adorable kids. I wish we could've stayed longer with them, but that gives us a reason to visit again. The fact that Delta has finally lowered their prices out of Cincinnati gives another reason. Boo-yah.

Wednesday 1/21 – Saturday 1/24

We relaxed, visited, enjoyed, tried to get over colds that we caught during the week, and explored San Clemente a bit. We also spent a third day at Disneyland.
On the last day, Risa took us to Dana Point beach for a mini photo session and dinner. She took some really great shots with our camera, including my profile photo. That was awesome because I don't remember the last time we had good shots taken.

San Clemente Pier.

Photo taken by Risa.

She also took the great shot of us looking toward the sunset.

Great vacation. Great photos – some that I'm already imagining on my walls. But it's also good to be back, back to reality and some interesting changes that have taken place since our return.

Irie.

Sweet or snarky?

2009-01-11T21:53:00.001-05:00

Or, if you're Becca, you're sweet...with a side of snarky, which is totally what I would choose if given the option. Me? I think I was given a double dose of snarky at birth. What about you?

A couple weeks ago we planned a dinner at Panera with Ms. Sweet 'n Snarky herself (I hope she's okay with her new nickname). After dinner, we moved to the couches and had a mini session to give her some headshots, and I'm sure people thought we were crazy. Hopefully, we'll be meeting this week to hand over her sexy, new photos along with a blog redesign.

We ended with a baker's dozen of photos for her, and I decided to post three for a sneak peek. I love them all, so it was pretty tough to pick favorites. We saved the ones we think she'll like best for her special viewing, and I'll post them to Facebook later. Let me know what you think.

Isn't she adorable?
Have a fabulous week!

Last procrastination tactic...

2009-01-10T17:17:00.001-05:00

It's sad when I'm using the blog to procrastinate on bigger things that need to be done this weekend, but blogging needed to be done so I think it's perfectly acceptable.

Since I failed miserably (or happily, however you look at it) halfway through my daily photos for 2008, and the daunting task is still on my 101 list, I decided to give it another try in 2009. This time it's more on my terms and much easier. I'm doing an iPhone photo a day, emailing it to my Flickr, and basically calling it done. After that, I can go into Flickr when I get a chance, add the pictures to my new 365 set, and send to a 365 group I joined (purely optional). Viola! No downloading the photos from the camera, editing them, tagging them in Flickr, or any of the other additional steps that stopped me in my tracks last time.

Although the iPhone photo method is a much easier process, it forces me to think more creatively. I don't have a fancy lens or depth of field, and the pictures are pretty craptastic quality-wise. I also have to think about what's in the background and what's messing up my photo because there's no editing/blurring/cropping. Tricky, tricky! Of course, if any of our clients are reading this, make note that I always put this kind of thought into your photos. I shoot with the utmost care and responsibility. ;)

In Rye Designs news, our first big change was our logo. If you're a fan of our page on Facebook, then you've already read about this news. With our old logo, much like a bad relationship, I didn't know what kind of hole I was in until I had climbed out and claimed good riddance. I knew that I didn't like our tagline placement or font, and that was about it. Now that our colors are a little different (as well as Pantone worthy) and our tagline is cleaner, I feel like I have a new, dreamy Prince Charming. No worries, Dan.

Other changes:

Dan and I have been working on the website and it's coming along! Actually, I should say it's a lot further than our last website design! With our vacation next week, it looks like "going live" will be slated for February unless there's some kind of miracle.
There will be a NEW BLOG integrated in the site design, but as of now it will not roll out with the rest of the site.
We are working from the ground up on this site design, just like our last one. We are not using templates or nasty flash, and custom designing and coding is taking more time than I imagined.
Now that we have photo, stationery, and website examples for the site, I put them all on my iPhone! If I'm ever out and need to show examples of our work, it's at my fingertips. They all look silky, smooth, and fabulous!
There will be more changes as we go along, but the website and blog are priority for the next month.

This weekend:
Designing here, photos there, taking down Christmas decor, and maybe a trip to IKEA. We haven't been there to browse in a long time and need to exchange an item.

We'll be leaving for California on Friday, so there's some packing and cleaning included in the task list this week. Cross your fingers that we're not delayed with ice or bad weather. We'll be visiting previous co-workers as well as my sister and her cute family. Didn't know I had a sister?! Well, you're in for a treat because she's much more creative and talented than I am. ;) Musician and friend, Craig Lyons, will also be playing while we're vacationing. Perfect timing!

Come back tomorrow and I'll show you a couple photos we took of Becca from Sweet...with a side of snarky.

The last hurrah of 2008...

2008-12-31T23:50:00.003-05:00

Over the last couple of days in between designing and planning for the business, I took some time to think about the past year, look through blogged photos, remember where I've been and where I'm headed. It's been one crazy year. While I won't deny that I emit enough crazy on my own, this crazy was pretty darn good.

I can't begin to explain or list all that I've learned this year. The lessons will come in some future, unexplained, or "what the..." moments when I need them most. As in 2007, my word of the year (balance) was always in the back of my mind and actions, even if I didn't master it ONE BIT. That's what counts, right? I think I learned that balance is an illusive little bugger that everyone strives for, yet it can never exist. I'm currently thinking about my word for 2009 - something to strive for that CAN exist. I don't do resolutions, just one word. Are you picking one?

As for our Christmas, I'll be honest and say it was probably the most stressful ever. Our family plans were changed at the last minute, there's always some kind of issue getting people in my family together, and I had the big biz plans weighing on my shoulders. Hello drama. But the family time was good after it was worked out, and we received some great things. We even got to have family over to our house and have a dinner. It's times like those you realize what you didn't register for when you got married. Hopefully we gave some great things - couldn't go wrong with homemade bread & butter pickles for the majority of our gift giving.

Dan was the master wrapper, yo.

I do have to give props to a couple of Dan's gifts, because he is most awesome. Once he had my first gift in hand he wanted to give it to me, so we exchanged on the 23rd. Who am I to refuse an early gift? Right now it's in a temporary frame, but I opened the wrapping to find a limited edition print of Kal's birch trees painting. LOVE the trees and the colors. LOVE Kal, she just rocks.

This next gift was a biz gift, but it arrived on Christmas Eve so I got to open it. I had originally asked for a couple fan guides so I could match up Rye Designs' colors, but Dan's gift motto for me must be "go big or GO FLIPPIN' BIGGER." With all the stress I had last week, I opened all of this Pantone color-matching goodness and just started to cry. I told him to return it all and just get a couple of fan guides. It was all too much and I couldn't accept it.

I gave it some time, though, and totally changed my mind. I couldn't be more excited about this now, especially since I've already used it to tweak our logo to a standard. Now, the biggest tear-jerker of all is that Dan bought this big set for ME because he believes in my designing and my skills-to-pay-the-bills. He totally believes in my dream, and our dream. He has confidence in me when I have none. HE is all too much. It was a very Merry Christmas. It's going to be a very great 2009.

And let's not lie, Dan is a paper and office supply junkie, so this set is like a big playground for him.

Here's to a dreamy and joyful 2009. I'll be back soon with the latest updates and plans for the biz. In the meantime, enjoy a fresh start with the new year and go check out the Facebook page for Rye Designs - here.

I like to work it, work it...

2008-12-20T23:26:00.003-05:00

Today I realized that I never downloaded last Sunday's photos from the cameras! Sunday consisted of a couple dog shoots, including one of the biggest dogs I've ever seen, and a little mini session with photographer Raquita from St. Louis (which I've posted on Facebook). I think I've covered a bit of everything now. Dan and I definitely learned a lot last weekend and had a ton of fun! Thanks to Megan for hosting, and to Holly for the invitation!

More workin' it...

2008-12-19T00:05:00.002-05:00

Here are some more images from the weekend shin-dig. We did an engagement shoot with two of the best behaved dogs EVER. We also had a handful of college kids come to the studio for their own mini sessions. I posted more on my Facebook, so check out others there.

Work it...

2008-12-17T23:56:00.003-05:00

Last weekend Dan and I were invited to a photog workshop up in Delaware, Ohio. A work-it shop, so it's been dubbed. Megan Morgan was an awesome host and let us invade her fabulous studio, AND I got to meet Holly McCaig among many others! Since Sheri lives in Delaware, we were able to stay with her and hang out during the crazy weekend. Here are some photos from the many shoots we did. More to come as I get through them...

A little turkey and some mistletoe...

2008-12-07T23:13:00.001-05:00

...Or, if you're Vicki and Mandy it's mizzletoe, but I digress. I don't know if it's the holiday spirit, or the excessive amounts of chocolate, or all the photo and design work I've had lately, or the decorations around the house, or the fact that it's the first Christmas in our house, but the weekends have been spectacular lately. I have to give the weekdays some props too, I suppose. But these weekends, man.

Thanksgiving bits
Dan and I had a four day weekend from the 9-5 jobs and I took a little break from the photos, too. Since we were home on Thanksgiving, the kitties thought it was Saturday and begged for their routine weekend treat - wet food. We held out until the afternoon and gave them a turkey and gravy dinner before we left for our own turkey dinner with Dan's family. I think they enjoyed it, no mind that Urple looks like she's going to clobber someone and eat them as well.

For the holiday full 'o food, I chose some new recipes. Last year I tried a new recipe of orange glazed carrots (or some crap like that) and they were awful. I had to redeem myself among the in-laws. I made a corn casserole that could rival Don Pablo's corn cakes, some of the most delicious marshmallow brownies ever, and some oreo truffles. We visited my family on Friday for a second turkey dinner and took some of all three recipes there, too. I think the carrot fiasco is well behind me.

With the final two days of our extended weekend, I ACTUALLY CRAFTED. Mandy and Chris came to see our house for the first time, and after lunch together the girls went craft shopping while the boys played video games at home - big surprise. We almost talked the boys into shopping with us, but they were too smart for that.

Anyway, back to the crafting. Mandy and I decided to do Ali's Daily December album idea. I still haven't figured out whether this was a good idea since I made the book and have been taking pictures, but haven't had time to fill it. I had a lot of fun, though, and got to use some paper and things I had on hand with some printed digital papers.

In between crafting, Dan and I also put up the tree that Sunday and watched a couple movies. Time actually seemed to slow down. Best weekend in a long time.

Other bits
This 10-22mm beauty was delivered this past week, along with some other goodies we ordered. It's an EF-S lens, but that's okay for now because both of our cameras are compatible. Read: we don't want to stockpile EF-S lenses. If we ever buy a 5D or other full frame camera, they don't fly together. This is our first wide angle lens and I am in love. I can stand in my front yard (versus the other side of the cul-de-sac) and get my whole house in the shot, or stand right in front of the Christmas tree and get it in the shot with our fireplace on the opposite wall. It's fabulous. Canon 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM.

Not taken with 10-22mm, but pretty all the same. The snow finally stuck this weekend!

More decorating this past week...we pulled out some old things and bought some new things. Garland makes its way down the stair banister, candle lamps shine out the windows, little details are all around, and the tree doesn't have ornaments on it yet but I could leave it and be happy.

This weekend bits
It was another good one around here. I had photos to finish editing, Christmas cards to design and order, and other projects to finish and order. I finished all but two things on my list. One of those is designing our own Christmas card, which is quickly turning into a New Year's card. As much as I love these little projects, I'm REALLY looking forward to getting them done so I can work on the 2009 rollout for Rye Designs. And I'm REALLY REALLY looking forward to having almost two weeks off work at the end of this month for my plans.

Welcome December.

I just needed a few more...

2008-12-06T01:54:00.002-05:00

Since the cat's been out of the bag for a couple weeks on this session with the C- and S-families, I thought I'd post some more favorites. See the original four here, including those super fun teeter-totter shots.

In other news, this weekend is shaping up to be high-speed and totally packed with photos, holiday cards, print orders, and my December album. Hopefully another blog post is somewhere in the mix. I foresee a Starbucks run to keep me on my toes.

Don't have your holiday cards ordered yet? Let me know and we'll get 'em done!

Subtraction and addition...

2008-11-25T21:19:00.001-05:00

November 16, 2008
Cincinnati, Ohio

For our shoot last week we did a little shuffling. You may recognize the little boys from the C&S family shoot, but this time we had the L-family and grandma with us. Even though it was freezing and snowing that Sunday morning, we were toasty inside with a lot of great light.

C-family: look at those cute matching sweaters...

L-family: this little one was not a fan of us or the cold weather...

But he was a fan of raisins...

Cue grandma...

THERE it is! We were able to catch the smile before it quickly turned to a frown...

Precious...

What a great time with awesome color - great choice on the location!

Check back soon because I want to post more of the C&S shoot - four pictures just wasn't enough. The photos were picked up last night, so they're no longer a surprise.

Canning & comparing...

2008-11-22T23:02:00.002-05:00

Canning: back toward the beginning of November, I got an itch to can some pickles. These aren't just ANY pickles, mind you, they are bread & butter pickles that my great aunt (I think that's right) used to make. My dad and other family members grew up on these pickles and looked forward to them every year. As did I.

When the recipe was printed in a limited-edition family cookbook, my mouth started to water just thinking about these wonderful pickles. Lovely, yummy, bread & butter PICKLES. Okay, moving on...

Dan and I sliced up an ungodly amount of cucumbers and onions, cried a little in the meantime, and canned up seven jars of these babies. It was quite a process, but well worth it when my parents came to dinner the next night and dad tried a freshly canned jar of nostalgia... and they tasted the same as he remembered. YES! We have three jars left and plan to make more soon. Side note: growing up, I never realized there were onions involved. I always thought they were pickles cut up differently. (Hello blonde.)

The first picture currently resides above our living room couch with nine of its similarly-bordered friends. Since I had the picture of our main subdivision street in the Spring, I went out the other day after work and got one of Fall as well. I don't know if I'll have this new one printed to replace Spring, but it's a thought. I do plan to get a shot for each season.

Comparing: today while I was looking at Spring vs. Fall, I couldn't help but notice something was off. I knew one was taken on a drizzly day while the other was dry, so the colors are a bit different. I also realized I wasn't standing in the exact same spot. But for some reason a tree was either uprooted on me or moved to sunnier Florida. First picture = four trees. Second picture, even though zoomed out or standing farther back = three trees. What...? Don't think about it too hard to your brain will hurt.

I'll stop rambling about pickles and trees now.

Cool things: I'm a little slow on the delivery, but some good things I've seen lately or haven't mentioned in a while...

Martha's no-knit scarf. I'm still searching for the scarf I started crocheting years ago, so it doesn't look like I'll be completing it anytime soon. Martha's is something I could finish before it turns Spring again. See Lisa's here.
While you're looking at Lisa's no-knit scarf, go check out her awesome necklaces also. They would make great gifts.
Elise's handmade holiday. Elise is like a handmade celebrity. I first found her blog last year when I made the circle ornaments, and she's still turning cardboard and bottle caps into works of art.
I know there are more, but that's it for tonight.

I'm currently on laundry load four and I'm not done yet. Time to switch some loads and edit some photo sessions on this lovely Saturday night.

OH, and it's my little brother's 21st birthday today. Yikes! Let's all say a prayer - that he stays safe tonight and that I stop feeling so OLD.

Running around the playground...

2008-11-12T01:13:00.000-05:00

November 4, 2008
Boone County Central Park

Last week Dan and I had the chance to run around with some adorable kids. Two brothers who are cousins to three sisters equaled one high-energy time. I picked a few favorite photos to give a glimpse, so let me introduce the C-family and the S-family...

How cute are these two?

These teeter-totter shots are so much fun. The girls...

...versus the boys...

That huge grin on the little boy is too much to handle. I think we need to find more teeter-totters around here because they guarantee laughs. Maybe Santa will bring me some...

Blog away...

2008-11-08T01:55:00.002-05:00

After work and some couch time enjoying Thai carry-out, Ugly Betty, and a little Grey's Anatomy, I fully expected to get back into client photos. Looking at the iMac in our showroom I thought, instead, that I would blog. BLOG - there's something I haven't done in a while! I told Dan of my grand plan, to which he said, "Blog away!"

So here I am...blogging away, catching up on laundry, and trying to remember what life has brought in the last few weeks. Oh, and in between all of those things I'm setting up my account on our new MacBook Pro just the way I want it, and learning the ways its touchpad likes to be touched. Ah, yes.

Taking a little trip back to my birthday, on the 22nd, here are some pictures...

Dan secretly took a half day off work to come home and get things ready. He's definitely a keeper. This is a box of goodies and more goodies - chocolates (including some Starbucks mocha and chai truffles) and little slips of things Dan will do when I redeem them. Things like massages, the dishes, laundry, and tasks of my choice. Oooooo-la-la! With Halloween and this box I think I'm stocked up on chocolate until my next birthday. Candy anyone?

The weekend before my birthday we got some corn stalks from Dan's family's farm, and I drove up to see them placed ever so nicely around our garage and front door. The stalks and one pumpkin were all we did outside - very simple.

We went shopping and I found some new outfits at the Gap, then to Red Lobster for dinner. Since it's not a place we go all the time, I really like going there for my birthday. It's become a little tradition, I guess. Since we were STUFFED FULL of endless shrimp, the dessert had to wait until the next day, but it was awwwwfully delicious - a Reese ice cream cake. I might have to make up an excuse to go buy another one.

That Saturday my parents took us to Outback to celebrate two birthdays - mine and an older brother's. This is me and the younger brother. If you are my Facebook friend then you've already seen this, but it's my favorite shot of us. Good dinner and good times.

A couple days before Halloween I was alone in the house and the doorbell rang. Our neighborhood is really safe as far as we've encountered, but it made me wish for a peep-hole in our front door. When I finally answered it, I saw that we had been BOO'd. Seriously, I had never heard of this booing thing until a couple weeks before Halloween, but what a fun idea. I whipped up a dozen cookies and a little sign so that Dan and I could BOO another neighbor.

We were such amateurs - we had to choose a house about five away because the closest ones had already been hit. We should have hid on the side on their house after ringing the doorbell, but instead we tried to run like maniacs, and then halfway back started to walk as if we were taking a nightly stroll. Next time we'll know the tricks.

Halloween - I'm not even going to rehash the whole thing. I will say that Dan's little brothers came to our neighborhood to trick-or-treat. The younger one went out and had a good time. Dan's friends were having a party that night, so we got ready while the kiddos were walking around. Dan's grandpa sat on the porch and gave out candy for us, but I sat outside in between getting ready and baking cookies for the party.

Dan dressed as McCain and I dressed as Palin, although he tried to put white paint on his face for a pale effect and ended up more like McCain from the grave. That lent much to the satire. Maybe I should've practiced my Alaskan accent while I was at it. Dan had a BIT TOO MUCH Tequila at the party and my fear of puke was tested that night...as was my car's interior. That's enough information. NEXT TIME I WILL KNOW BETTER. Or maybe I should say THERE WON'T BE A NEXT TIME.

Otherwise - let's make a list.

Lists are all the rage right now. I know this because Apple didn't put an application on their iPhone for making task lists, so everyone and their cousins have been looking for the next best thing.
I am one of those "everyone," and my to-do list is currently scattered among a handful of notebook pages. In case you're wondering, this method does NOT help productivity. I thought I had a good thing going, but the app I was using decided to crash all the time and lose random tasks. I guess I should have been happy about less tasks, huh?
Once I'm done with the client photos on deck, I will be doing some surveying and soul-searching to figure out what I want to roll out business-wise for the beginning of '09. There is so much I'd like to do, but I need to pick out a couple manageable things that can get done by the new year.
I spent a chunk of time tonight with an email organizing bug. I need to clean out my inbox at home the same way I do at work. The problem is Gmail (home) vs. Outlook (work), so I'm working some tweaks. I love Gmail too much to use Mac Mail or other things at home. Darn it, Dan - the love for all things Google is all your fault.
By Tuesday I will have my favorite photos posted from a recent shoot we did.
I've been drooling over kraft paper products online. I love that all the ones I've seen are made from some percentage of recycled material, some 100%. Makes me glad that I picked it for our packaging.
Holy cow, now it's time to switch some laundry and get to bed.

Goodnight Friday.

Their own party of five...

2008-10-27T22:22:00.005-04:00

October 18, 2008
Miami Whitewater Forest

Here's a glimpse of the last session we did. We've known this family for over a year now and the kids just get more adorable with time. I couldn't resist showing all color shots since the leaves (and those pink fleeces) were so great. Enjoy.

We started out at the swings...

This little guy starts out shy, but don't let him fool you...

Weeeeee!...

Giving his mama sweet kisses...

And we ended the morning with a little hike through the woods. Beautiful...

October lovin'...

2008-10-16T13:48:00.003-04:00

I'm glad it's only the 16th, but I'm bummed that it's already the 16th! This month needs to pull back on the reigns a bit. I finally placed some decorations inside the house before we went to Gatlinburg, though I could use more now that I have plenty of bare space. Maybe next year, or a good stock-up after Halloween when everything's on sale. We hear that a lot of kids come around to trick-or-treat in our neighborhood, so we've stocked up on the goods, too. I'm trying very hard not to PIG OUT on it before the big night.

Gatlinburg was absolutely beautiful. The weather was sunny and nice, not too hot or cold, and the leaves were already changing. As I realize I didn't mention much about the trip beforehand except hey, we're leaving for Gatlinburg, it was a rather spontaneous getaway. With a few weeks notice, my SIL invited us to go along with their little family and share a cabin, and we agreed. Here are just a few of the shots we took... I mean... Dan took. He was photographer and bag-lugger extraordinaire and if it weren't for him we wouldn't have many digital memories of our weekend. Muchas gracias, mi amor. I'll post more once I get through them.

While we were there...

we stuffed ourselves as you can only do on vacation
we hiked a small trail to Laurel Falls, totaling 2.5 miles and a few hundred pictures
for a lot of the photos we tried our new 75-300 IS lens and polarizing filter - verdicts on those later
we ate and shopped at the Apple Barn, an attraction in itself
we stopped at a go-kart track and went for a ride
I almost lost my Apple Barn on those curves with Dan's driving - maybe I should have driven my own go-kart at granny speeds
we rode up the mountain on Ober Gatlinburg and did a few activities there
we took a whole lot more pictures
we shopped along the main strip
we ate at Hard Rock and got our collectible souvenirs
we all watched The Great Outdoors together
the boys played pool in the cabin
we took advantage of the cabin's hot tub and clear full-moon skies
we found a mini scorpion in our room's jacuzzi tub
we had Starbucks right before starting our drive home - pumpkin and cream cheese muffin was not a good choice for the stomach
we had plenty of new tunes for the road trip - new favorite band is Blind Pilot
we just enjoyed it all

Now that we're back...

I'm a photo sorting and editing fool
I need a cleaning lady
we have a photo shoot on Saturday with a returning family - yay!
someone is turning the big 27 next week - fav number must mean good year
Halloween is two weeks away or right around the corner, same thing
it's October!

Roll out Thursday.

On hold...

2008-10-09T13:49:00.000-04:00

On hold, waiting for a conference call to start. I had a request for a
better picture of the hair since the last one was so cropped. I don't
like seeing my mug in photos, but hope this one is better.

- Real post is on the agenda.
- Lisa and Justin's photos are still undergoing magic touches.
- Tonight is yoga and packing for a weekend Gatlinburg trip.
- We leave tomorrow!
- Must charge some camera batteries and do who knows what else.

Enjoy the weekend.

Lisa + Justin: Wedding

2008-09-27T22:18:00.001-04:00

September 20, 2008
Hamilton, Ohio

Not even two months ago we had the pleasure of shooting an engagement session for this super cute couple, and last weekend we joined them as they tied the knot. It was an awesome day for their outdoor wedding, and their family and friends sure know how to have a good time - along with the DJ they hired. I found myself wanting to dance as I was shooting.

There are so many photos I want to post, but Dan and I picked out a small selection to tell the story of their big day. Let's roll 'em.

Lisa's beautiful dress...can you imagine my excitement when I found the dress hanging like this in the dressing room? Someone was reading my mind...

Cute shoes and a chair I really liked...

Getting ready...

Such a beautiful bride...

Dan captured the guys getting ready...

Just look at those poses...

I loved the orange flowers everywhere...

Together at the altar...

Kissy, kissy...

Just in time for the sunset and a little flare...

It's official!

A little dance action...

The guys made a seat for Lisa as Justin prepared for the garter grab...

...and pretty little details all around.

Lisa and Justin - you guys are awesome. Thank you for letting us share your day.
We wish you all the love.

Thoughts on a Monday...

2008-09-22T21:04:00.002-04:00

Today...

My department (along with a handful of management) moved buildings. Movin' on up...to the penthouse offices on the fifth floor.
My daily commute has almost doubled - from seven miles to 12.
Google Maps says I could take an alternate route and save .1 miles, though I would probably add 10 minutes onto my trip after stopping at Starbucks inside Kroger. Hmm...curbside parking?
Unpacking sucked because we have a lot of open shelving and not as many drawers. Time to be selective about what's showing and what's not.
The new offices are really nice, but way too quiet.
I felt lost all day because everything was in a new place and it was TOO DARN QUIET.
I also felt lost because half of my job duties are back at the old office, so I'm still ironing out those details.
And I didn't get to see Dan at all during the workday.
BUT I got to jam all the way to and from work.
The bathrooms are much closer. Friends with small bladders will understand.
I was able to get away from the new office and go back to the old office for a few things.
I am thinking about pictures and art that I can put in my little space.
I went from having a L-shaped desk with no guest chairs to a U-shaped desk with two guest chairs. Who shall I invite to my cube now? Can I call it a cube if it has room for guests?
After a simple dinner with Dan, I decided to bake chocolate chip cookies.
I'm going to take them into work. I've already eaten a few, oops.
All of Lisa & Justin's wedding pictures have been downloaded - all 1,812 of them.
I have the greatest respect for wedding photographers, but such a title is not included in our future aspirations.
Looking back on the wedding, it was quite an experience to be on the photography side.
It was also quite an experience to be eaten alive by mosquitoes in a period of 10 minutes, maybe less. Total damage = eight bites (and that's just on my arms. There may be more I haven't seen yet).
I need to get my Fall decor out from the basement. First day of Fall = 81 degrees, but I noticed a couple trees already changing in the neighborhood. Maybe they're just giving up from the heat.
I need to start getting ideas for handmade Christmas gifts.
October is coming - one of my favorite months. I've heard we get a lot of Trick-or-Treaters in our neighborhood. Woo!
Sheri and her hubby celebrate two years tomorrow. Happy Anniversary!
Random time is over, bed time is now.

Home sweet home...

2008-09-17T23:43:00.000-04:00

I MADE IT.

There were several points on Sunday I had no idea when I'd be home, but we'll get to that story later. I've wanted to show some pictures of the trail near our house, so here are a few of those. The day was absolutely beautiful.

I'm ready to spend the first Fall in our "new" house. I can only imagine how great it will look when all of the trees lining the main road of the neighborhood change colors. OOOooooo, pretty pretty.

Before I went to Chicago I got the urge to chop off my hair. I didn't know how short I wanted to go - because most of you know how short my hair has been. Back in May I tried a new stylist closer to home, but for this cut I went back to my tried and true 'do gal. I knew she would give me something cute and fun, and she did not disappoint. My only requirements were 1) something that's shorter, and 2) something that takes 5-10 minutes, tops. This is what she whipped up...

LOOOVE IT. So much easier to do in the morning, and it looks super cute if I just scrunch it with some moouse, too, since my hair is naturally wavy. Apparently it's the "Victoria Beckham" look...cute cut, same first name, it's all good.

Chicago was a crazy whirlwind and a half. I went equipped with my company credit card, my work laptop, my flight details, an appetite ready to try new restaurants, an open mind trying not to get too stressed, and too much luggage for United Airlines. I had a big suitcase, a small one for bathroom items, my laptop bag, my backpack with camera and other things stuffed in it, and my purse. My back hurts just thinking about it.

You can imagine how I felt when I was told only one carry-on and a personal item were allowed. I think I knew that, but just forgot. I almost started to cry thinking of how I'd have to leave some items behind, or check them separately with a stinkin' fee, and everything carry-on was electronic/fragile (there went the "DON'T GET OVERWHELMED" mentality). Somehow I stuffed my purse into my already-stuffed bookbag and went on my way.

A bunch of us received gift baskets from my boss, which was very sweet. With our schedules, though, I didn't get to eat any of it. Everyday was 16 hours or longer, NON-STOP. Our schedule was: get up, get ready, grab a yogart or pastry on-the-go, get on shuttle or taxi to the convention center (don't even get me started on Chicago taxi drivers), stand and rush around for eight-ish hours, get the shuttle back to hotel, change and figure out what's for dinner, end up eating a huge meal around nine or ten o'clock, walk back to the hotel around 11 or 12 at night, and try not to go to bed on a full stomach.

On the other hand, it was great to meet so many people. We had a ton of laughs, a great time at the show (it's a machine and tooling show, btw), and I even got to do some shopping for cute clothes. Awesome memories. Bad news: I didn't take that many pictures because I didn't want to lug my camera around, and even though I had my P&S it was too dark by the time I had any photo ops. One thing I really wanted a picture of was Hotel Whacker. I kid you not. Here is a picture of my snazzy show suit...

I did manage a Hard Rock visit on Friday night. HR was the one place I wanted to go. I had to get my collectible bear and a collectible glass for a girl at work, so I got a group to go along. And to get a glass cheaper than buying it in the gift shop, I got a big ole' pilsner glass full of Pina Colada...mmmm. We almost missed our reservations because a few of us lost track of time shopping, and then a cab driver took us to the HR Hotel instead of the restaurant. Putting the two near each other would be WAY too easy - they had to be NINE BLOCKS APART. Luckily, the waitress had our backs and let us keep the reservation.

On Saturday, a bus brought a group from work to the show. Dan signed up for the bus, so he got to see our monstrous booth and take some pictures for me. We had lunch and I gave him some of my luggage so I'd be a little lighter on the trip home.

Of course, we can't forget about my trip home. My flight was scheduled for 1:15 Chicago time. Long story short, we all got on (and shortly off) the plane TWICE. The first time was the result of Chicago's rain - all planes were grounded for a little while. The second time was because Cincinnati was having a wind storm and lost power. After the second time, I hit up Starbuck's and went on a search for the only power outlet in the place. Seriously. I shared a wall with some guy, had my cookie and latte while surfing the net, and I was doing mighty fine.

Finally, they canceled the flight altogether. DANG IT. I called the travel agent with work and let her know the scoop, and asked WHAT THE #&*% I should do. Not in those words of course, more in the tone of "I'm about to break down and cry in the three-hour-long customer service line because I just want to get home." She couldn't find anymore flights that night, so I would have to find a hotel and fly out the next day. I said screw flying and decided to rent a car, so the agent got me one right away and I got out of that airport!

...Not before I realized that I had luggage! I went to the baggage claim desk only to find out that somehow my luggage would be on a 7:30p flight to Cincinnati. I couldn't get my luggage personally, it was going to my destination with or without me. BUT THERE ARE NO MORE FLIGHTS BECAUSE CINCINNATI HAS NO ELECTRICITY. A woman in line behind me started to tell me how it was going to be okay, but it wasn't. I don't like to be told what I can and can't do, especially in an unfamiliar place.

So here I am...bawling in the airport, without my luggage, breaking my shoulder with my laptop bag and purse (good thing I gave Dan my backpack and gift basket when he came the day before / bad thing I wasn't on that bus ride too), and I CAN'T FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET TO THE RENTAL CAR LOTS. Geesh. No power outlets, and now the signs may as well be in a foreign language.

Once I figured it all out, got my rental car, and got on the highway, I was in control. I still had to call Dan to figure out all the detours for me (thanks a million!), but I was jamming and on my way home. About seven hours later, and after midnight, I finally got to see some of the wind damage and fallen trees. We were very fortunate - our patio table and umbrella broke, but we never lost power or any trees. I figured I had endured so much crap traveling that I was given some grace in the electricity and damage department.

Grocery shopping wasn't too productive tonight, though. Everything in the grocery fridge and freezer sections was gone, so I could only get pantry and fruit/veggie items. No problem because we have a freezer full of meat already and we'll do pasta or other items. It's just terrible for the people that still don't have power, or have experienced wind damage. We'll see what the next few days bring.

This weekend my department is moving to a new location about two or three miles away, so we're packing up our cubicals. Friday we'll get to see the new offices and have training on the phone systems. First day MONDAY! Dan and I won't be working in the same office anymore and we'll have to drive separately unless we try a drop-off scenario. I'm sure I'll be back at the plant often, especially until I get some of my responsibilities figured out between the two locations.

Change, change, change - embrace it. iTunes has been serenading me with some good music tonight, but now chatting and music time is done. Here's to Fall, and the wedding of Lisa and Justin that we'll be capturing on Saturday...

Uno momento...

2008-09-17T18:26:00.003-04:00

Dan's at a game tonight, so I hope to whip out an update while he's gone. For now, I'm off to get some food in this house - and a nice chai latte while I'm at it.

Hopeless in Chicago...

2008-09-06T20:58:00.001-04:00

I made it to Chicago in one piece, got my luggage and hauled all four
bags plus purse onto a shuttle. Then, I got the joy of sitting in
traffic for something like two-and-a-half hours. Yay, traffic.

The hotel is nice, minus the fact that I'm blonde and couldn't turn on
the shower this morning. A maintenance guy came to look at it, I
realized how dumb I was when he turned it right on...but it wasn't a
totally wasted trip because the hot water wasn't really working. I
guess that's what happens when you're on the 11th floor of an older
hotel.

We had Cheesecake Factory for a late dinner last night. The décor was
like something out of Alice in Wonderland, crazy looking shwooshes and
gold everywhere, but very cool. Remind me not to have wine on an empty
stomach, no matter how much peer pressure is looming over me while at
a hotel bar before going to dinner. We stuffed ourselves too much and
too late for cheesecake...pity pity.

Right now I'm not sure what's for dinner. There is a happy hour with
appetizers scheduled at the hotel, but I'm waiting for a co-worker to
finish what she's working on so we can leave the convention center.
Let's roll, sista!

I've had two experiences with taxis now and I'm sure there will be
many more while I'm here. For the first, I took one to the airport
from home and I wasn't sure if I was supposed to tip him. Now I feel
bad for not doing so, and I'm sure he had some choice words for me
after dragging my luggage in and out of his trunk.

Anyway, I'm hoping to have some shopping time while I'm here. I love
seeing all the people walking around. I wonder where they're going
with their backpacks and shopping bags, and if they live here or if
they are naive tourists like me. Because really, I have no clue what's
gong on around here. You'd think I never traveled a day in my life.

You better pray for me, because I don't know if my feet or I will make
it through this week without HELP. I wore tennis shoes today and my
feet still feel like I've been wearing heels.

Looks like we're almost done here and we can get back to the hotel.
And I can stop typing on my little iPhone keyboard. Finally. AND
because I found out that the edge network will allow me to have a
working phone in this convention center rather than a 3G brick, I'm
darn excited.

Miss you, Dan. Enjoy having the house to yourself for a week, and I'll
try not to skip a show day and blow all of our money shopping. Much
love.

Catch me on the twitter, yo.

Fast as lightning...

2008-08-24T22:48:00.001-04:00

I'm only giving myself a half-hour for this, so we're rolling lightning style. My August and upcoming, combined in some kind of order...

Sometime around the end of July, I finally finished Harry Potter #4. Instead of starting #5, I changed it up and started reading Eat, Pray, Love from my bookshelf. Very good so far.

On August 3rd, after our shoot with Lisa + Justin and visiting Dan's family, Dan and I were rear-ended. He was driving his car, we were stopped at the end of a highway exit ramp, and the woman must have thought we were going to go because BOOM! My glasses and a sandal went flying. We were/are okay except for some aches and trouble sleeping the first week or so. The car is fine - slight dent that you can only see at certain angles. Dan's STILL dealing with her insurance company. Jiminy crickets, they need to do their jobs already.

Adam and Sheri came to visit the 16th-17th. We had a good time, played some Apples to Apples, pigged out, played with the kitties, and made sure to indulge in a high-calorie dessert. Sheri brought kitty treats so she made instant friends. Well, as much "instant" as you can get with our cats and their skittish attitudes around other people. We also decided to explore a trail here in the neighborhood, which was a great decision. Lots of photo opps for the girls while the guys had other ideas of fun... like going for a swim in the muddy water. I don't have any photos on my laptop, so you can check out Sheri's blog for a little nature collage.

Last weekend we had Lisa + Justin over to see their photos and chat about the wedding. I hope they enjoy the photos of their cute selves! The next day, one of my cousins had a graduation (Master's!) and housewarming party. They bought their house about a year ago and finally had a chance to celebrate. On Sunday, Dan and my dad gave my car a nice little tune-up, made my AC work, put on new front brakes, and made my car feel young again. Yippee! You don't know how great air conditioning is in the summer until YOU DON'T HAVE IT! And I haven't had it for about a month. Man it's been hot.

The other day I started Twitter - follow me and see what I'm up to in the sidebar.
I have been BEYOND busy and stressed at work. Our show is coming up sooner than I know. I LEAVE NEXT FRIDAY. Yikes, I need to pack. I've had plenty of overtime lately, working until six or seven every weeknight, and picking up Saturdays when I can.
Speaking of Saturdays, what are those?
My battery is getting low, the stress-relief oil in my diffuser has all been enjoyed, and my half-hour is gone, so it's time to sleep. I need to take time for me at night, no matter how stressed I am at work. I don't need to be overstressed and sick while traveling and working.
I shall return in one form or another - blogging bits or Twitter.

Happy hump day... let's get some sleep.

Lisa + Justin: Engagement

2008-08-12T22:12:00.004-04:00

On the Rye farm, there sits a quaint little cabin in the woods. It's a little piece of history dating back several generations with trinkets and antiques, handmade quilts and details of the lives lived there.

When Dan's cousin, Lisa, and her fiance asked us to do their wedding, my mind immediately reeled the scenes of an engagement shoot at the cabin. Oh, how cool it would be. Much to my surprise, Lisa was right on board with my thoughts of frolicking in the woods and showing Justin the cabin. And yes, it was very cool.

These two are naturals. We had them tromping through tall grasses - probably some poison ivy, getting chummy with spiders, and even sitting under snakeskins. After Lisa cringed, she whiped the grass, cobwebs and dust off her WHITE DRESS with a smile. Troopers, I tell you. It was really hard to narrow down a handful of photos for posting, but these definitely rank high on the favorites list.

A piece of Lisa and Justin's story...

I get goosebumps looking at this one...

I love all the bits and details in this shot...

Ah, young love...

We decided to have a sword fight...

After this shot, things got a little naughty...

The benefit of having two cameras: this is one angle...

This is the alternate angle, and I love both...

We had beautiful weather that day...

I love me some lower-half shots...

Lisa and Justin - we had quite an adventure and hope you did too. The cabin was the perfect spot. We're so stoked to show you the rest of the photos!

The whirlwind that was July...

2008-08-08T22:19:00.003-04:00

Whew. I can't begin to explain the running around that lead up to our home celebration and made up the month of July. Errands, IKEA trips, moving stuff, cleaning stuff, decorating, and you name it, we tried to squeeze it in our days. Let's get to some photos.

Oh, new iPhone. How I love thee, especially with MobileMe syncing. We took a half day off work and spent three hours in line. The time passed pretty quickly because I took along Harry Potter, and the waiting paid off because we were just about the last people to get phones. If it weren't for a delivery of 10 more phones during our wait, we wouldn't have gotten phones at all. Then, of course, we had to go through the issue where everyone and their family was trying to activate their phones on iTunes, but that's a whole other story. I got a white one and Dan got a black one.

There's a new addition to the family - a little sister, if you will. We scored a great deal on a Canon XSi (450D) for a second shooter and backup. The 40D is perfect for Dan's hands, and this smaller one is great for me. Surprisingly, it has more megapixels, too. We took it for a test drive during last Sunday's engagement shoot and it stood up to the monster pretty well.

This was the ONLY picture I took of our party. I actually took about three pictures total, but they all looked like this one. This was after all of our family had left, after Dan persuaded everyone to play beer darts in the backyard, and then twisted their arms to play beer pong, causing our kitchen table to relocate to the patio and get beer all over it. Needless to say, and gladly, I had to round up all of our extra pillows and blankets since we had a lot of friends spend the night.

If you know me at all, I'm sure you're picturing me relaxing inside, drinking my iced tea, taking this picture out my back door. And for the record, no kitchen tables were harmed for the duration of the party.

Other than that, I'm glad more of our families were able to see the house. I wish we could have spent more time with them instead of giving an upteenth tour, but we'll just have to remember that for our next party.

(Click to enlarge)
Man, I'm so thrilled with these details. I took some shots around the house to show a few of my favorite things, and the little bits encompass our style perfectly.

Living room wall - above couch: I couldn't have picked better pictures for this arrangement and the glimpse into our lives. Funny story - when we got these prints we opened them right away and Urple walked up to check out the package. We got to Merry's big-headed print and held it up to show Urple. Not two seconds later her eyes nearly popped out of her head and she couldn't get away fast enough! When we got to Urple's picture we held it up to show Merry, and she did the SAME THING. We hung all the frames that night and the girls wouldn't step foot in the living room for about a week. Seriously, cats.
Living room wall - above television
Master bath - above jacuzzi
Guest bedroom: I've always wanted to put a bed on a diagonal, and the guest room was prime opportunity since the door to the room is also on a diagonal. Big Ben is on the night stand, and the art from Dan's London and Paris trips will coordinate on the walls.
This will be 5-8 actually: we turned our dining room into a spectacular Rye Designs showroom. Thoughts and words cannot express how much I love this room. It is so inspiring JUST TO SIT IN THE ROOM. We bought a little couch, a little chair, mixed in some of our favorite client shots with studio lighting, and hung a wire-full of stationery samples. Not sure why the last photo turned out with a green wall, but oh well.

The mac has a home here so we can show off slideshows to clients, and I find myself working in this room more than our office upstairs. I have plans for the office...mainly to put business documents and packaging, marketing, and yada-yada materials up there (along with the baskets of craft supplies). That way we'll keep the business end away from clients and just keep them involved in the inspiring and fun showroom stuff.

The evening after our party I was minding my own business editing pictures and having a lazy day, when I look out the back door to see very dark clouds, rain, and high winds. Within minutes, sirens were blaring and I was wondering if I should go to the basement. Dan was on his way home maneuvering around branches and trees in the road. As soon as he arrived, we hid in the furnace closet with spinach dip, mini bread squares, and our iphones - you know, the essentials. After the warnings and skies cleared, we came out of hiding to find this:

Good thing our party wasn't that evening.

Now we're pretty much up to date, and if you're still reading then I'm impressed.

After the party, the craziness around the house seemed to shift into my work life. With our show coming up in September we are chickens-with-our-heads-cut-off insane. I worked last Saturday and will go in again tomorrow. Bring on the overtime. My house is showing it, though, especially in the kitchen and laundry room. Dan has been a big help in both areas, but it still seems to be piling up to my eyeballs. My boss has been great, approving anything that will save me time (like outsourcing projects), so I can breathe small sighs of relief in that arena.

In other arenas, I'm editing our recent engagement shoot and the photos are looking fabulous. I will have some to post this weekend. It's part of my tweaked workflow to have favorites blogged within a week. For now, it's time to fold some laundry, edit some more photos, and resist stuffing my face with chocolate.

Maybe two out of three is good enough.
Happy eight-eight-oh-eight, yo.

How could it be so hard...

2008-07-28T23:34:00.001-04:00

You'd think I was asking for world peace, or an end to my fear of heights. All I wanted was for my Google calendars to sync to my iMac and iPhone. Finally, it's happened - thanks to calgoo.com. Can I get an AMEN?!

Now I just need to figure out the pesky to-do syncing thing...and then the world peace thing.

Take me out to the ball game...

2008-07-26T22:26:00.002-04:00

Tonight - we are at the Red's game. It was raining on our walk from car to stadium, my white t-shirt didn't help the situation, and we rushed to our seats just time to catch a short rain delay. But the free company tickets we got from a co-worker are the bomb - as you can see - and the rain has stopped. AND it's 80's night. It's all good.

Sent from my iPhone

Waiting in the wings...

2008-07-26T16:43:00.002-04:00

I have a draft post of photos just waiting for some text, and a month's worth of madness to document. I WILL spill out some text this weekend. In the meantime, enjoy this fun site. It's interesting to see what I write around here.

July Fourth...

2008-07-04T23:42:00.000-04:00

Happy Fourth. We saw a few fireworks shows from our house tonight, and I can still hear fireworks blasting around town. We could have celebrated with friends tonight, but the rainy day mixed with headaches made a lazy day at home much more appealing.

There are a million things to talk about with the party and business things, so this post might be a little random. Roll call of photos above (click to make larger):

This is what our dining room looked like before we painted - yellow. Yellow's not a bad color if executed well, but it didn't combine well with our color scheme.
The new color, a.k.a. guest room teal, a.k.a. some sort of grayish greenish blue. It's almost close enough to be called a Rye Designs' blue. Whichever, the room looks much better now. The furniture is in, we'll be ordering photos for that room this weekend, and I'm looking forward to the finished product.
Our celebration invitations were sent. I was able to get rid of half a stack of paint chips - the ones I was drowning in back in February. Dan gets props for coming up with the idea himself before we ever moved.
We love these solar-powered lights. They were easy to install (thanks to handyman Dan) and look great. Any product that can turn itself on and off at appropriate times is priceless in my book. We hardly ever use our porch lights because I don't remember to turn on the darn things.
Our business cards arrived during the week. Last weekend I went back-and-forth on where to order them. I assumed we would get an order of 50 from our print house, but they don't round corners. I found a company online that does rounded-corner business cards, a quantity of 100 for about the same price after shipping and details, but the rounding wasn't deep enough. I ended up ordering from our print house and they turned out pretty good. Now we just have to round them ourselves. Next time I might try something different.
Sort of an odd angle, but this is a table that Dan is sanding for staining. It is a table that my dad made in high school and along the way it was loaned out, scratched up, painted (that green color you see), and sitting in my parents' shed for a while. My dad offered it to us with freedom to re-do it, and we're staining it to match our other furniture. I think it's awesome that something he made back in the day is still in sturdy and re-doable condition, and can be a part of our home.

Other bits and pieces:
Our celebration is two weeks away, and our to-do list is two miles long. It's good to get these projects done that we've been putting off since move-in. Mainly things like getting bedrooms together, getting things on the walls, decorating, and unpacking more.

Speaking of getting bedrooms together, we got a new king-sized bed a few weeks ago and moved our old queen-sized bed into the guest room. Then, we had to sleep in the guest room for a week or so because I couldn't decide whether I liked the comforter set we bought. It's a long story, Dan really liked it, though. I finally washed the sheets and we're sleeping in our new bed with our old duvet. We still don't have a decision on a new comforter set. Ha.

This week we went car browsing. Just browsing. We like the Ford F-150 crew cab and Mazda CX-9 for cargo space and towing, and the eventual little people. I got to test-drive both since my car will be the first replaced down the road, and the CX-9 did not disappoint. I would be willing to drive a truck if that's what Dan really wants, but he knows where my loyalties lie (wink, wink). I think we're staying within these two dealers because Dan's grandpa retired from Ford, giving us discount options. After crunching the numbers from the dealers, we're not willing to swing some $700 car payment right now, so thankfully we don't NEED to buy a new vehicle right now.

In business news, I spent a bit of time tweaking our logo last week. A couple small things had always bothered me and now they're fixed - mainly the kerning on a couple letters and the contrast of our light brown. Of course, changing one thing means changing everything, so I took the time to change things like our contracts and form images, and cleaned up folders. Productivity grows like a weed. Now that I've done the business cards and fixed up most of our documents, I want to do more and more. I recently scheduled the engagement shoot for Dan's cousin who's getting married in September, so I'll have the chance to figure out my workflow again, and Dan's family has three boys who want Senior shoots this year. AND, Dan has handed me financial duties of the biz-nass, so I need to figure out how I'm going to organize all of that - little daunting.

My, my, my...this is the dream. I just need to figure out how to balance it with everything else until it can take over for good.

For now, I'm going to rest my 400-mile-an-hour brain. The plan for the rest of this extended holiday weekend is simply: whatever. The only thing I have to do is figure out where our frames are going, and what's going to the print house.

Make it a great holiday weekend.

The big tally...

2008-06-27T00:02:00.002-04:00

Okay. I loved your input. I thought the results were all over the board, but at second glance I see that there's a clear favorite. Here's how the cards ranked with number of votes:

#1 kraft card - 4
#2 divided card - 2
#3 star card - 0
#4 label card - 1

There was also an idea (from Dan and Mike) to use the front of the label card mixed with the back of the star card. Here's what that combo would look like:

As much as I love the kraft card - and as much as you like it - it's hard to give up the star and label cards. I may have to order two designs since we're only getting sets of 50. MAYBE I'll print them all out and see what they look like on paper. Whatever the decision is, they're set to be ordered this weekend.

For now, it's off to bed and waking up to Friday. This weekend calls for laundry, cleaning, eye exams, hopefully some new glasses and/or contacts for me, and getting an order together for the printer. The frames around here need to be filled and hung before they get too comfy by the living room fireplace.

Roll out.

A little help from my friends...

2008-06-24T00:15:00.001-04:00

While I was working on our house warming/open house/whatever-you-call-it-party invitations this weekend, I got the urge to finish our business cards. So much so, that I created four different ones. True Vicki fashion. I can't decide which I like best, and neither can Dan. This is where YOU, my lovely friends, come into the picture. Tell me what you think - which you like best.

Numero uno: Kraft card
If you've seen our packaging then you'll recognize this design.
It looks just like our kraft packaging and label wrap, I love it.

Numero dos: Divided card
This card is all about simplicity.

Numero tres: Star card
Simple with an unexpected punch.

Numero quatro: Label card
This one sports a label just like our website. I had extra room so I put our address.
The other designs may or may not have an address in the end.

Thanks for playing along, your input means a ton. And those invites I mentioned - they'll go out tomorrow. Mark your calendars for July 19th. I'll have a better post another day, this one's full already.

Here comes Tuesday!

We're jammin'...

2008-06-15T00:57:00.001-04:00

Since I last posted, things have been very productive in the home department. There are lists galore and that's just the way I like it (most times anyway). To-do lists, art + decor lists, and want lists - all good things gearing up to get this house together and ready for a party.

The same weekend I braved hammering an address to our house, the guest bedroom was re-trimmed and touched-up with our pretty grayish-teal paint, and the kitchen got a touch-up. Before we moved in, we painted the guest room first to see if we liked the paint brand and tinted primer. Let's just say our painting skills skyrocketed after all the practice we had in other rooms, and the guest room wasn't showcasing our best. Now it's all good with outlet plates and blinds back in place.

Other touch-ups on deck: master bedroom.
Full-on painting: dining room, half bath, guest bath, and hallways.

Our surprised Urple and diva Merry have had a lot of camera time lately. I needed some updated shots of them and some special ones for a project. They are so sweet. Right now they like to look out the back sliding door as we leave for work in the morning. We drive past and wave goodbye.

Last weekend was a big IKEA trip. We stocked up on frames, decor, more shelves, and wrote down some info for furniture we liked. After driving around here during the week and checking on prices for similar furniture, IKEA is definitely the way to go. We're going back tomorrow to pick up the stuff we want. Above is what one wall of my dining room looks like since I started unpacking and stacking to see everything.

Bookcase on another wall of the dining room.

Yet another wall. Soon I will divide and conquer by putting things in the rooms they belong, then I'll have my dining room free for painting. I still haven't decided if I want to paint it guest-room-teal or office-brown in there. Any opinions? As a sidenote, it won't be a dining room in the end. We have big plans for it that include our new toy.

Our new toy - we are new iMac owners. Dan and I have halfway converted - we still have our PCs. After persuasion from our friend Scott, months of talk, and knowing that we're going to get two of these when they're available next month, we had decided that sometime soon we'd try a mac. What we didn't know was that our visit to the Kenwood Apple store Wednesday night would result in walking out with one of these monsters. We got a huge discount on a printer with our purchase, and since I work in education we got even more discounts and a free ipod. It's 24 inches of awesome - and a learning curve.

All plugged in. This is a temporary spot. It makes our 20.1-inch widescreen monitors look like runts. What I love most - it's all included in the monitor. Four wonderful gigs of RAM, the CD/DVD drive, wireless...it's all there with ONE CORD. I'm seeing a MacBook in my future.

This remote will come in handy.

During the week while we were running around, Dan happened to notice that these beauties popped up in our yard. Who knew that the wild grass-looking plants on the corner of our house were actually...whatever kind of flowers these are.

Something I don't have a picture for:

There's a car at work with an IRIE license plate. Good news - that's very cool. I want to find out who drives that car. Bad news - that license plate is taken in my state. Boo.

Today:

I finished laundry
I cleaned what I could
I touched-up the fireplace wall with brown paint
I loved on Merry - she was following me all around today
I tried to get Urple out of our closet all day - she was hiding from our guests
Dan's playing "Two Pina Coladas" by Garth Brooks for me right now
That makes me want to go have a glass, or at least a smell
I want to start painting a new room, but I'm too tired

This week:

Hope everyone has a great Father's Day.
This song will still be on repeat. Love me some Michael Bublé.
We're going to visit Scott and Mel on Monday to share our love for macs.
I should work on our party invites for next month. I haven't figured out if it should be called a house warming or an open house (or neither). What's the difference - gifts vs. no gifts, and arrival time?

As stoked as I am about everything, it's time to sleep.

Happy Sunday.

Checking in...

2008-06-14T14:45:00.000-04:00

Hello Saturday. Here's what I have in store for you:

iTunes on shuffle
Dan's two little brothers staying the day + night
cleaning
laundry
painting
figuring out frame + decor placement
cleaning up after the boys
posting a full report later with pictures
trying not to be grumpy that kids are invading my entire Saturday
admiring our new toy...

Let's get out of the office, and get moving!

Jump-start for June...

2008-06-01T03:30:00.003-04:00

Muchas gracias for the comments and support last week. It was nice to hear that I wasn't the only one in the dumps and that the sun will always come out tomorrow. Despite the rain last Friday, the sun did come out on Saturday and it was like a fresh start.

(Click each photo to see larger)

Driving home with my shadow.
What my hair looked like before the salon.
Stocked up on fruit.
I cleaned up after my week of laziness and got a meal started in the crock pot - Jamaican style. As a tribute to our heavenly honeymoon spot I found a few recipes online to cook over the weekend. This one was called Jamaican-me-crazy chicken and sweet potatoes. Dan really liked it, but I wasn't a big fan.
Thawing large white shrimp.
Another Jamaican meal with spicy shrimp, scallops, and cajun rice. We both enjoyed this one - might have to make it again sometime.

Monday afternoon we checked into the bed + breakfast and got a tour. We had a room in the cabin retreat that made us feel like rockstars far away while we were only a few miles from home. Chocolate chip cookies awaited our arrival, and a journal was left for comments. I really liked reading about the couples that had stayed there before us - some celebrating many decades together, some just married, and some just visiting on business. So many stories. It was the perfect place to relax and celebrate, and the spa bathroom was an unexpected treat.
Tuesday morning wandering after the best breakfast. Not the best picture of my new 'do, but it'll do. I think I had at least four inches chopped. The verdict: Dan likes it and the complements haven't stopped at work. I wasn't sure about it at first, but I'm getting used to it. Maybe I should throw caution to the wind next time and chop it all. It would be so much easier.
We found a small arboretum with a walking trail.
I really liked this tree trunk.
Just passing through...
Scrabble! Dan had never played and he beat me. Beginner's luck, that's all. I'll whoop him next time. After Scrabble, we decided to re-watch season six of Sex and the City before we see the movie next week. When I met Dan he had all the seasons on DVD, that's how I knew he was a keeper.

Before we dug through the 10 layers of plastic wrap and foil, we were trying to remember what flavor our cake top was. I was pretty sure it was carrot cake. I compromised when we ordered it since Dan's not a fan of much besides carrot cake. Truth be told, it was darn good carrot cake (even after a year) and we had chocolate chip cookies to go with it, so all was right and sugar-buzzed in the world.
Sharing a slice.
For Dan's anniversary gift, I found a Big Ben decoration at Target. Dan spent some time abroad in London during college, so the gift will go nicely with the art he bought there.
I finally bought myself a custom necklace from Lisa Leonard and I'm in love. I planned on buying a piece with balance in mind, so I would always be reminded of the balance I'm trying to achieve. But after thinking about the perfect word/phrase for me right now, irie came to mind. JUST WHAT I NEED. A little bit of IRIE every day.
Dan's anniversary gift for me was a map of Jamaica. Seriously - how cool is that? We're going to have it framed to go with a collage of Jamaica stuff somewhere in this place.
Tonight I got gutsy. I bought address numbers for our house because somehow we were skipped when the address fairy came around. The only address we have around here is a small plate on the mailbox with the previous owners' last name. AND the thing is GLUED TO LAST through five generations and every natural disaster known to man... so we'll have to do something about that. It looks like they had address stickers on the sides of the mailbox post at one time, but it beats me why they were removed and never replaced. So...I also bought more stickers to replace them.

No, buying these things was not the gutsy part. Getting up on a ladder to situate and hammer them was the God-forbid-I-ever-do-that-again scariest thing ever. Maybe if I had a flat surface to place the ladder it wouldn't have been so bad, but if you were a neighbor of mine tonight you were probably looking out your window laughing at the crazy blond girl who stood for a good half-hour staring at her ladder and moving it around on uneven mulch trying to get it steady. And once it was steady, she took another half-hour tracing the numbers, erasing, and re-tracing them while shaking and holding onto the roof for dear life. Which, by that time was too late to be hammering so only half of the nails were done, leaving the other half for another amusing episode of Crazy Girl is Going to Kill Herself Addressing Her House tomorrow.

At this point I hope they're not too far apart because the nails are not coming out - I tried. Why did I decide to put the numbers on the garage? Because we don't have a porch, and other porchless houses in the neighborhood have their address in the same place. Why didn't I just let Dan the Man mess around with this job? Because he's gone again, this time on an annual boys' weekend, and I thought I would surprise him with it. I'll let you know if he notices when he returns.

What else:
It's after 2:00 in the morning, and I'm still hyped up on an IC Mocha.

It's been so hot in the house the past couple days that I turned on the AC for the first time tonight - sorry Dan, but you'd be dying.

Remember the website design I was working on for the past month? I was volunteering for the job and, after a lot of soul-searching, I decided to let go of the responsibility last week. I was coming up empty and stressed, and needed to rid my plate of something. I'm so glad the leaders of the project were understanding and super supportive.

Sheri was in town Thursday night so we had our regular Cheddar's dinner and caught up on life. I think you need to move closer, Sheri. And Dan, it looks like we need to plan a couple trips to Columbus this summer.

Reconnecting with Dan and the house has been really energizing for me. The metal shelves and my craft baskets are in the office, and boxes of decor are sitting in the dining room for unloading. Seeing my supplies gets me thinking about projects and decorating. I have a slew of ideas and can't wait to get started. When Dan gets back we're going to make a list and timeline for our next steps. A June housewarming wasn't in the cards with Dan's travels, but maybe July? At this rate, maybe Thanksgiving? Painting, touch-ups, photos and art to be hung, shelves, yard work, furniture, details here and there, oooo-la-la!

At least two people have asked me if I'm having a girls' weekend since Dan is out with the boys. Ummm...nope. My girls are at least an hour away, and girl's things normally include splurging of some sort, which is not really feasible. But maybe I should. What do you think, girls?

I think this blog needs a new look...and that it's time for bed.

Hello June, you look awfully pretty on your first day.
How did you get here so fast - you better slow down.

Sing it with me...

2008-05-22T23:05:00.001-04:00

Daniel is traveling tonight on a plane,
I can see the red tail lights heading for Spain...

Ok, so he left last Saturday - not tonight - but I never knew that song said "heading for Spain." That's where he is. Funny, funny. Funny, too, that our grass is growing up like the everglades in such a short time. I've looked around to find other yards that are as high as ours, that way I know I'm not the only one pushing my luck. There aren't any. Or maybe the utter unruliness is just in my head. Either way, I got the guts to get out of the house yesterday and mow the lawn for Dan. I've never mowed a lawn. I'll admit it, but I was willing to try. That was until I couldn't even pull on the dang rope hard enough to get the mower started. Oh, and then I found out today that I was supposed to push some "cold start" button. Well...WHO KNEW THAT? Sorry Dan, the yard is still turning into a jungle for your arrival, unless something can save me.

Question: What do you get when you mix the ups and downs of moving into a new house, transitioning to a totally different job, the natural ebbs and flows of living and being, a to-do list that's overflowing, a clock that never slows, and two head colds within a month?

Answer: A no-good, unproductive, down in the dumps, just plain stuck, me.

Something's gotta go. The past couple ~~weeks~~ months have been a challenge - I've especially felt it in the last week or so. Definitely, exciting and fun things have come my way and I'm very blessed, but I have so much going on that I am absolutely stuck. Too much to do = too many choices = not sure what I can fit into available time = indecisive and uninspired = me flushing hours down the toilet.

Time for a change. I don't want to spend my days cleaning or watching television not knowing what else to do. This week lazing around with no obligations has been pretty refreshing for me and my stuffy head, yet frustrating at the same time. I DON'T LAZE AROUND - I KICK LAZINESS IN THE BEHIND. Yet here I sit with nothing to show for the week but piled dishes, take-out food, many hours of watched television, a trip to Walgreen's, and a haircut.

So I'm sharing my frumpiness in hopes that I can spill it and GET RID of it...process my thoughts and figure out what to do.

Spilled and moving on: Dan's coming back on Saturday, it's an extended holiday weekend, and a little celebration of us. In our story, May 27th reigns supreme. This year will total one year dating + one year engaged + one year married. Three years together, going at this crazy life as one.

Today: I was told that I should be a hand model. I had some great conversations getting to know people at work. I got a new 'do at a new salon closer to home - picture to come after Dan sees it first. I caught up on my DVR'd American Idol finale - the Guitar Hero commercials were hilarious. It's been a pretty good day - just what I needed. And tomorrow's Friday.

Irie mon.

Throwing it random-like...

2008-05-12T22:40:00.001-04:00

A bunch of things lately...

I've watched more TV in the last week than I have in a while. I am not motivated to start a certain design project, and I have a hunch that these two things are related.

We were going to clean a little last Saturday and visit moms on Sunday. That turned into a major cleaning Saturday and families visiting us on Sunday. Everyone brought chicken to prevent cooking. There was a whole bunch of chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, and cole slaw. And a whole bunch of disinfectant spray after germy, sick people left. Don't get me started on people visiting other people while sick. My parents had to leave early, but hopefully my mom had a good Mother's Day.

The house is really, really clean now - yippee.

Dan and I are thinking of a house-warming in June. There are house projects and photo decor to think about, especially the painting we need to finish. I need to set up weekly goals to complete this stuff.

The work days are flying by with all the tasks and conference calls. So far, so good in the new job. It was a bit challenging to figure out my work flow, emails, and daily structure, but I'm getting there.

Dan's leaving on a jet plane this weekend for business. He'll be gone for a week. Then, I'm taking off the 27th for our anniversary. It's hard to believe that we've been married a year already. Wow. A friend recommended a bed + breakfast nearby, so we're going to get away from the house, the computers, the people, and just enjoy us - and the breakfast. We'll have to see how the top layer of our wedding cake tastes after a year in the freezer, too.

It's only Monday, but Friday will be here before I know it. This week's a full one!

Cinco de cupcakes...

2008-05-05T21:55:00.001-04:00

This past week has included a whole lot of cooking - trying new recipes that turned out delicious - and enjoying some wine with our new foods. My first week in the new job called for some wine to celebrate, but also to relax my over-walked and hard-worked body. There was a LOT of walking in the first week...a lot of standing...a sick day thrown in for good measure... and watching a video and photo shoot to round out the busy week.

Dan and I also had a Panera night to meet with his cousin and her fiance. We'll be doing their engagement and wedding photos this year (oh, did I forget to mention that we're wedding photographers? Because we're NOT.) We're looking forward to it, though, and will do-what-we-do to the best degree. We already have great ideas in mind for their engagement shoot.

This past week also included relaxation, chalked messages of love and necessities, watching Dan in Real Life, and treats of all sorts. One such treat was brought from my parents' house yesterday - my piano. It marks off #44 on my 101 list to bring my piano to our new house, and also gives me a push on #45 (learning a new piano song). Dan even wants to learn to play now that it's in the house. Through the years, multiple moves, and careless teenagers, it definitely has some character. Eventually, we'll refinish it to match other wood in our house.

Tonight - is cupcake baking night. Tomorrow is hubby's birthday! I'm making him some special carrot cake cupcakes to take to work. They're just about done and I need to catch up on icing (and eating) them.

"What are we going to do this week, Brain?"
"The same thing we do every week, Pinky..."

THREE CHEERS...

2008-04-26T15:40:00.003-04:00

...for some good old-fashioned productivity. Last weekend was awesome - I had given into my sleepiness the weekend before that, but this time I had an agenda and just kept with it.

Last Saturday I was on a mission to clean. After sleeping in and a nice brunch of egg + cheese sandwiches, I cleaned up the kitchen, threw in some loads of laundry, rounded up my cleaning supplies and went at the bathrooms. All three of them. I got down to the teeny bits... vacuumed the floors... rocked and rolled. Dan actually got to take a nap that day.

Last Sunday was the Sunday to top all Sundays. We started out with the normal morning church routine, and then decided to take a trip up to the new IKEA in West Chester. There are no words for this place. It's a crazy experience - and hard to believe that I can go back and shop there again. For some reason, I have this idea that it's a "one time only" place...almost like a home show that comes to town once a year. If you go maybe you'll see what I mean. It was full of inspiration and cool things to see.

We got a few things and they are making me smile...

One thing we got - the big thing - was a dresser (aka: a chest of drawers). Up until now we were using night stands and closet shelves to take care of folded things, and that worked great. This house has thrown a little kink into our system because we can't fit our same shelves into the walk-in closet, and things just didn't seem to have a tidy home. Chest: enter stage left. Dan was really impressed with the quality of the piece. There are eight drawers and I'm glad we spent the money for it - we almost talked ourselves out of it.

After we moved in, I had this fabulous idea of some type of board that I could put grocery lists on, and would also hold our keys as we come in the garage door (see left). I wasn't sure if something like that existed or if I would have to make it. Well, what do you know - IKEA had just what I was looking for. And it's magnetic, so I can stick things on it as well. It's already graced with Dan's artwork, and it looks great with our cabinets. I knew it was meant to be when I saw the little galvanized buckets for holding chalk. Swoon...

NEXT - another decoration we're trying. We have one of these on each side of the fireplace. I guess the technical term here would be "ceramic vases with twigs." So far we're really digging them.

Almost three hours later we were done shopping, headed to dinner at Buca, and then downtown for Dan's surprise date night. He was able to get free tickets to The Aronoff for a production of The Color Purple. We're tempted to check out the movie now, just to see how they differ. It's definitely a touching story. And I was able to mark #32 off my 101 in 1001 list - going to dinner and seeing a play.

This past week was chock full o' stuff.

Monday we had some leftover business with our Consumed small group. We also decided to sign up in the moment for GO Cincinnati. It's a city-wide blanket of love where a whole bunch of people get together to do good things and good work. We're talking ~~hundreds~~ thousands of people. Dan and I haven't been able to do it the past couple years because of our engagement and wedding stuff, but this time is it. We noticed a flyer about our neighborhood yard sale on the same day, so we're a little bummed to miss that. We really wanted to include some of our stuff and check it out, but we'll see what happens.

Wednesday we went to visit my older brother who had surgery last week. He had to have heart surgery out of the blue when a chest x-ray showed an enlarged aorta. The doctors say it was most likely genetic, so now my mom wants everyone to be checked. You just never know about these things - he had no symptoms at all and was very healthy. A week after the surgery he is up and doing well, following orders for recovery.

Thursday was my dad's birthday (and mom's next week), so we celebrated at the Montgomery Inn Boathouse. Delicious and good times.

Friday was the last day of training my replacement. I found out where my new cubical home will be (with a wall of windows), I filed and cleaned up my stuff for the move across the building, and I'm due for a computer loaded with all sorts of Adobe Creative Suite 3 goodies. I know that the days of training my replacement aren't over because she'll have questions during her transition, but I'm glad that the patience-testing, wanna-rip-my-hair-out days are over. Now I know why I taught communication courses and not computer courses. Amen. These were well appreciated this week. Just the smell of the Pina Colada was enough for me...

This weekend is a chance to get this place cleaned up more before we move in more things from the garage. Oy-yoy-yoy. Dan's visiting his family today and I have intentions to get a shower, get some groceries, continue the laundry, daydream as I look out the window, feel the breeze, work on three initial website designs, and jam to the music.

The earth quaketh...

2008-04-19T00:22:00.000-04:00

Life around here lately consists of quite a routine. I've wanted to get into some kind of routine for a while, so this has been a real breakthrough. Yet, I should have been careful what I wished for. Work, making dinner (or buying carry-out), cleaning the kitchen, doing the laundry, and taking three-hour naps seem to be the extent of my habits lately. Yes, I said three-hour naps...as in many hours of my life that I'll never get back. By the time I'm done with these things everyday it's around 8:00p, and I don't have the motivation to do anything creative except for editing my daily photos. Oddly, I don't see unpacking or cleaning other parts of the house in that list either. How much would a cleaning lady be each week? This is not good - so I continue in my quest for routine and balance while rolling along with the punches.

As for the better half, Dan has been rewiring the house with the help of his dad. We'll have extra connections and outlets where we want them since the previous wiring didn't suit all of our needs. He's also been out in the yard taking advantage of the great weather and our new lawn and garden tools.

Last weekend we went on a walk even though it was a little dreary and chilly. I wanted to get photos of the spring blooms before the overnight frosts took them away. They're still around, though. This time we walked to the farther pool in the neighborhood. I saw some sexy man standing among the trees and snapped a few of him - don't tell Dan.

This morning sure jolted our current wake-up habits - literally. About 5:30a Dan jumped up because OUR HOUSE WAS SHAKING and then I was awake. How weird it was to be sitting in bed and shaking, half asleep, with no clue what was happening. Dan was the first to say it was an earthquake. IN OHIO?! That's what I said, but then realized we're in Kentucky - close enough. Earthquake insurance, anyone? There really wasn't any promise of extra sleep after that.

This weekend - I need to get over my hurdle and get some things done. I think anything would be an improvement over napping. To top off the weekend, Dan has a surprise date night planned for Sunday. Oooo-la-la.

Has anyone seen the peanut butter?

2008-04-08T23:48:00.001-04:00

Honestly. I've looked everywhere for that darn peanut butter. I've been craving a pb+jelly sandwich for a couple weeks now. I should have bought a new jar at the store as a stand-in until the other comes out of hiding.

The past several days have been unbelievably beautiful. We've had our windows open enjoying the breeze. I know it's too good to be true, and the weather will go cold again. Until then, here are some pictures embracing Spring and our weekend.

1. The tree in our front yard.
2. The previous owners left us some butterfly love by the garage.
3. Front yard tree again - starting to bloom. Anyone know what kind of tree this is?

1. Dan bought a monster hose and nozzle (must be a guy thing - way industrial grade but a good deal from Sam's), and set it up Sunday.
2. We went for a walk to one of the pools and back. Dan played paparazzi.
3. You can see our house from the pool, we're THAT close. Out of the two houses showing their backsides, we're the one on the left. Fun fact - the house to the right of us has NINE kids. I refuse to imagine what that's like.

1. Our fridge has a fun feature that measures water for you. The faucet rotates for extendo-reach pouring too. No more measuring water when I bake - that is like SO 2007.
2. Dan snapped a photo while I was mixing.
3. Cinnamon crumb cakes for breakfast, mmmmmm. These were going to be in the form of muffins until I realized that I threw away the few muffin cups I had when we moved. Something else to stick on the grocery list with the peanut butter.

Tonight was chill night at Panera. We hadn't been there in a long time and Dan thought he could get some work done out of the house. (That was until a group of happy-go-LOUD girls came in for a Mary Kay consulting course.) The man is website central right now, which is good and a blessing, every time he turns around someone else wants website work. He's amazing to take on all this work, but I'm glad he has friends to contract work to so he doesn't get overwhelmed.

Speaking of contract work...someone was hired to take my current "corporate world" position. She starts Thursday and I'll probably be training her for two weeks. Let the fun begin!

How do you like the beefed-up blogroll in my sidebar? It's a part of Blogger in draft that I decided to try tonight. If you have a blogger, just sign into draft.blogger.com instead for your dashboard. They have some fun things to try that will be rolling out to regular bloggers in the future.

I had an IC Mocha at Panera tonight so I'm pretty wired, but this girl needs to get some sleep.
Go rock your hump day.

A day in the life...

2008-04-06T02:34:00.003-04:00

10:30a - After staying up until 4:00a last night working on previously mentioned map cards and printing the majority of them, this was the scene here again this morning. I got up and made french toast for the hubs and I, printed a little in the process, then got back to work.

Finished card - front and back.

2:00p - All packed up and ready to go. I realize the gigantic time lapse here, so let me fill in some details. I didn't have that many more to print this morning, but my black ink was about to kick the bucket. As a result, I was using the "best" print mode so it would print darker - and not show those dang "hello your ink is going to die" lines through the page - but it took longer. Soooo...I finished printing and cutting, and decided it would be fun to go through all 125 of them again and trim them up nice and sharp like.

The new owner of the cards (we'll call her Miss J) came to pick them up soon after they were finished. I love the reactions she has toward things and life. She's very (com)passionate and genuine with people. When I gave her the cards wrapped up in a Rye Designs "happy package," she spent a moment looking at one (with hand over mouth) and almost started crying. She loved every detail and how I was able to incorporate her wants with her fiance's. These are the moments when I'm more than thankful for what I do - the people, the stories, the reactions - the whole happy package.

3:30p (ish) - Dan took a little nap while I unpacked some things. Merry decided to join him in slumber and I couldn't resist taking some pictures of her. When Dan woke up around 5:00, Miss Little Face cuddled with him and licked his arm. She's too funny.

I love her little paws.

5:30p - Dan the grill master makes hamburgers for dinner on his new grill.

After dinner we headed out for some shopping errands and Graeter's ice cream. Mmmm, they can make a coconut chip and pineapple shake that's to die for. Maybe next time I should add a little rum to it.

11:00p - I must have forgotten about all the sugar and calories I had earlier, because I wanted some good old Oreos and milk. Dan had some too.

1:30a - Yikes. Time to hit the sheets because I have an early wakeup call.

I know you've been waiting for them, so here they are..."AFTER" photos of our paint colors so far. They're in the sneak peek album. I moved the corresponding "before" pictures to the end of the album so they are with their partners. Above are the scanned versions of our paint chips...and although the dark brown looks like baby poo on screen, it's a very nice color in person. I'll post more when the tornado zone is cleaned up and I can take pictures of whole rooms without boxes. ;)

Have a fab Sunday...

Changing seasons...

2008-04-03T15:21:00.001-04:00

I love new seasons. They have a way of bringing changes and new perspectives to jump start things when they seem to get boring - especially Spring. We've definitely had our fill of changes and perspectives with this new season. Just when we thought we had things figured out for a little bit...but we're rolling with it and I'm excited about what's to come.

We moved (obviously) - We anticipated this change. What we didn't anticipate was the true workload and tight schedule even with more than a month to make the transition.

We got referrals - We knew that we wouldn't have much time for clients. Then we received a few referrals and didn't want to leave them hanging without a call at least...and calls led to other things. The map card above is somewhat last minute because of time constraints and the fact that our computer stuff was in boxes! It's in process right now. If it weren't for that contact, though, we wouldn't have met a great woman who joyfully helped us paint our house. (Interesting fact: remember the week of the Consumed journey where we had to borrow/trade/barter? That was one of our trades - map cards for painting.) Now that the desktop has been unpacked, we can focus some time on the people awaiting our services.

I accepted a new position at work - Yes, this was the "news" I was mentioning. Yet, I think almost everyone knows already. I didn't see this coming at all. For the last (almost) two years I've worked as a contractor. No benefits, no vacation, not really the career I wanted, and the list continued. I was okay with it because I'm on Dan's insurance, the company has been very generous with Christmases and the honeymoon, and I was waiting to see what opportunities would come along. Then, this opportunity came along - in Marketing - with benefits, vacation, more money, something I have skills for and could really enjoy. Now I wait until someone is brought in to take my place, and then start the learning curve of a very big change. The hardest part? My current department has relied on me and planned more responsibilities for the near future. I'm so loyal it hurts, but I must move on to make ME happy. Hopefully it works.

Any other changes - I think that's it.

It's time to say GOODBYE to March, and HELLO to the days of April where Spring is just starting to peek through the Winter. I wish it would peek a little faster. "You say goodbye, and I say hello...hello, hello." Where did March go again? Oh, that's right, nevermind...

It would also be time to say hello to my new paint colors, but I've had this written for a couple days and was going to wait until I put the pictures together to post it, then ditched that idea because it would be a mile long. I'm much closer, though. Half of the photos are sitting open in Photoshop just begging to be resized and posted.

What I'm enjoying right now...

Taking it easy getting the house together. Every box we empty and every area we clean is another step in creating our home. "Every step you take...every move you make..." I'm in a song mood today.
Last night I figured out what it's like to buy groceries, bring them home, and unload them through the garage door RIGHT INTO MY KITCHEN.
My walk-in pantry is stuffed with random things, but I was able to put FOOD in it last night along with a little organization.
The phat cats are doing much better. They're still scared by every noise, especially when we're not home, but they're reverting back to their attention-hogging selves every day. They haven't seen the basement yet - not sure if that's a good idea.
Stretching my creative muscles a little after they've been sitting for so long. I thought sure they were tired of waiting, got up and left.
Oreo cookies and milk.
The cinnamon crumb cake mix I bought at the store to make muffins.

Sheri's in town today and she's coming for a visit. A feast at Cheddar's is required (unless we decide on something else). Other than that, Thursday evening has GO WITH THE FLOW written all over it.

Nearing the finish line...

2008-03-27T10:45:00.001-04:00

Yes, we are almost there - the way-too-soon arrival of March 29th when the apartment keys are no longer ours.

For the last month we've been taking van loads over to the house whenever we go to clean/paint, and on Friday we finally made the big move with our big stuff...along with the phat cats. We put Urple into the kitty carrier because she's a clawer, and I picked up Merry because she just hides her head when she's scared. Merry experienced a similar drive before when Dan took her to the vet, so she was mostly fine hiding her head in the armpit of my coat. Urple was freaking out. About halfway through the drive, I think Merry realized we had passed up the vet, thought HOLY CRAP, and started yelling like her sister. I was as nervous for them as they were!

Dan set up their stuff in the laundry room, and as soon as we brought them in, they bee-lined it to hide in their litter box together. We brought them out to explore a little later, and Merry was all about it. She went from room to room, walked around, looked out the windows, and moved on. Urple didn't want anything to do with the house. In the meantime, Dan read that you should keep the cats shut in a small room for 24 hours until they get used to that small space, and then let them wander around while everyone's asleep, so back to the laundry room they went.

We stayed the first night in our new house. And because we were living out of boxes, and I still couldn't believe that we were staying in OUR house, it was a little weird and a lot SWEET at the same time. Everyday I get a little giddy just walking around and noticing things - thinking about how lucky we are.

Saturday the cable guy came for a visit and flipped the switch for our internet - first priority, baby. We also had lunch plans with our small group. It was the last meeting of our Consumed journey together and I'm going to miss the group each week. Dan and I already had a good plan going with our finances, so the journey solidified that, but I'm also looking at other consuming things a little differently...media, time, relationships, etc. Not sure if my new view of ads is really a good thing, though, because instead of letting them fly in one ear and out the other - now I just want to kick the advertisers (and even news writers).

[Hey, when you get that shiny new tax refund, or that government stimulus check...why don't you buy a BIG SCREEN TV with it? You could buy some other junk that you don't need, too! YEAH! Or you know that 401k that's just sitting there for your retirement WAY down the road, you could go spend that on a new house down-payment! LOOK AT YOUR OPTIONS! Oh here, have another credit card while you're at it - you deserve it!] No, thanks.

Here's a good post I read today about financial (and personal) clutter and how it can affect your happiness. It's something I've been thinking about even before our journey - just getting rid of stuff we're not in love with and continuing to make wise choices in the anti-clutter battle. One goal in mind = even though we have this new house with TONS of storage space, I don't want to fill it all. If we have STUFF that's unappreciated or just sitting around waiting to see the sunlight, I'd rather give it away to someone who will appreciate it.

I'm happy to report that we painted our office Saturday night, so we can mark it off the looooong list of painting duties. The color is somewhat dark, yet pretty much what we were looking for in that room and I really enjoy seeing it.

Sunday was Easter. We went to church and had an awesome service. Mandy talked about a skit that her church did, and I'm curious if our skit/dance was similar to theirs. I don't think there was a dry eye in the house. Afterwards, we spent most of the day with Dan's family. It was mostly relaxing, but all I could think about was getting back to the house to unpack and clean a little more. We did only come home with one bag of candy, compared to past years with his family, so it looks like we won't have to send his little brothers home with handfuls each time they visit.

This week

So far we've moved almost everything from the apartment. Now there are just small things that can be thrown into boxes as we clean. We also have to paint over our three bold accent walls, otherwise we'll get charged if the painters have to use more than one coat of their neutral. The sooner we can get out of there, the sooner we can't avoid all of the #$%@#*! construction getting in and out of that place.
Even though living out of boxes isn't ideal, I think I've found all of my clothes. Now how to arrange them...
Tuesday night we put together the couch and TV stuff in the living room - looking good! Our setup isn't the best for including the corner fireplace, though, so we look forward to eventually finding a new living room set and moving our current stuff to the basement family/game room.
Since the office was painted and the carpet was cleaned, we can start to figure out furniture placement.
We still want to paint the laundry room before we move in the washer and dryer. Those will be welcomed into the house with smiles and three large baskets of dirty clothes.
I'm trying to stay motivated and move along, but I am about D.O.N.E. with all this packing and moving. I'm ready to focus on the house and work some magic. Oh, and I'm requesting a good decluttering as we unpack, since we didn't have enough time with the gazillion other packing/cleaning/painting tasks this month.
I took pictures of our painted rooms Tuesday night and I just need our super fast desktop computer to help me out with the editing/uploading process. Pictures = soon = sooner than the last time I said "soon."
Last night after packing more at the apartment (we're so close!), we treated ourselves to steaks at Outback. It was well worth it. And when we came home, we couldn't find the cats. They have so many places to hide in the big house. We finally found Merry curled up in the guest bathroom sink, and Urpel was the hardest to find hiding in our entertainment center. I hope losing the cats isn't an everyday occurrence - we're used to them greeting us when we come home.
I still have news to tell, but this post is long enough already. I'll save it for another time. ;)
Let's roll Thursday the 27th - the weekend is right around the corner!

H to the iz-ouse...

2008-03-18T22:32:00.001-04:00

As I look through all of the kitchen pictures I've posted so far with our new fridge, paint chips, and whatever else, I can sense exactly what you're thinking...

What on earth are her kitchen and counter top colors anyway?!

Don't call me if Better Homes & Gardens or Martha wants magazine-worthy photos of your home, because every picture will inevitably turn out a different color. The closest I came was with this sneak peek photo with natural light. If you come visit our house don't be surprised if the wall colors look totally different than they do online. We could be using a bright magenta for all you know.

Speaking of paint colors - our versions of them at least - we are digging what we have so far. Our main focus has been the master bed/bath and living room, and those are almost done. The guest bedroom is almost done minus some touch-ups and maybe another ceiling trim job. Next we'll start priming and painting the office. I'll have pictures soon, and a reveal of where all those colors are going.

If you've ever wanted a way to test your patience, you should have come to our annual Homeowner's Association meeting last night. Holy pool passes. The meeting was only scheduled for two hours - two hours of hearing what homeowners in an association really care about... like how much the trees cost in the neighborhood. There's an elected board for a reason, and I trust that they'll use our money wisely. Why is there a need to spend a half-hour on the topic of fixing the brick monument at the front entrance? THEY'VE ALREADY DONE THE RESEARCH, PEOPLE. As you can see, my patience needs some work.

After the meeting last night we stopped at Lowe's to buy the rest of our paint colors. We need more of our darkest brown, but who knew it would be nearly impossible to match even with the formula from before, so we'll have to take our paint can/lid back another day and see if we can match. We had a 10% off coupon and Dan wanted to take full advantage of it, so while I was waiting on paint to be mixed he somehow picked out a grill, grill cover, and lawn mower. The boy doesn't waste any time when it comes to sales and coupons.

Dan and I got this gift from a couple at work today. The husband went to Belgium on business and brought us back some yummy chocolates. They're all filled with something different. They'll be gone in a week I'm sure... wonder if they're available online?

I have more news, but I'll wait to share until it's confirmed.

It looks like we'll be moving into the house by Saturday. Whether we're done painting or not, we have to move so we can clean the apartment next week and turn in our keys. We also have plans on Saturday and Easter Sunday to factor into the mix. Pray for my sanity.

Have a fabulous hump day, fo' shizzle.

On your marks...

2008-03-08T11:45:00.002-05:00

Get set...

GO!

I feel like I'm in the middle of a marathon right now - a marathon that took off at closing February 29th (thanks to those who gave congrats), and the finish line is March 29th when we turn in our apartment keys. We are loving our new house. It sure has created one PACKED month, though (pun intended).

Lessons in de-winterizing:
After our closing last Friday, Dan had done enough research and felt confident that he could de-winterize the house himself. Everything he read said it was pretty easy, you just need some extra people around to watch. We got a couple of co-worker friends over to help, went around and closed all of the faucets and valves, and crossed our fingers. Dan started out slow and one of our friends noticed that the refrigerator valve was open - shooting water into the kitchen - so we stopped. Got that cleaned up... and went slow again.

Everything seemed to be good. I was watching the upstairs and one of those faucets was left on so I grabbed it quick. It's kind of scary to hear water slowly going through all the pipes and filling up the toilets. You wouldn't think so... but I was constantly thinking something was leaking. Once the water was on full-force, we went around and turned all the faucets on to let the air out and start water flowing. Pretty much a success - we had flowing water and working plumbing.

UNTIL... Dan was standing in the kitchen and still heard water flowing. Water going through the pipes? Water heater filling up? That thing is monster sized....who knows. He went downstairs to find our storage room (that holds the water heater - whose pressure valve wasn't closed - oops) FLOODED WITH WATER. Estimated about 25 gallons by the time Dan thought fast and borrowed a shop vac from a neighbor to clean up the flood. Whew.

Lesson #1 - make sure you have multiple people watching AT ALL TIMES.
Lesson #2 - make sure the pressure valve is closed on your water heater.
Lesson #3 - bring a honkin' shop vac with you - just in case.
You'll thank me later.

That night after working a half day, we put together all the supplies for an easy spaghetti dinner and hauled over to the house. We had our first meal there, and made sure everything was still hunky dory with the water situation.

Saturday:

We started cleaning with Dan's family... they loved the house and we got a little bit done. Dan completed his first home improvement project - installing little shelves in our kitchen false drawer fronts. They're way cool and he's way proud of them. ;) Since the picture was taken, we found handles to match our cabinets and installed those too.

Jen came over and helped me with paint colors. She was amazing. I gave her a tour and showed her the paint colors we were thinking about in the master bedroom - the only ones I had come up with after my near drowning in paint chips. She checked our bedroom fabrics with the colors, found similar colors that looked better, and came up with a whole scheme in about 10 minutes. We walked around the house carrying the scheme and it went with everything perfectly - bringing out every color in our kitchen counter top (the picture may not do it justice). Crazy how that worked out. The lightest green is essentially our current kitchen color that we're keeping. It's really not that light, as you can see from other kitchen photos.

Our new fridge was also delivered that afternoon. Perfect timing and we loooooove it.

Sunday:

We cleaned with my family and brought some things from their place including the exercise system... they loved the house, and we got a little bit done. There are still many more cleaning tasks on the list. I was also invaded Friday by some sort of sinus/sore throat issue that left me exhausted every 10 minutes I tried to clean.

All the cleaning tasks aside, the house really isn't dirty. The previous owners kept it pretty clean, but one big thing we're doing is washing all the walls to prep them for painting. Now that my energy is back for the most part, and I just have this stuffy nose to deal with, things are looking up.

The flowers above are a house-warming from my mom. Anyone know how to take care of African Violets?

Today:

This is the view of our apartment balcony, and it just keeps on coming. I think I've said before how much I love snow, so this is a winter happyland for me.

We primed the guest room the other day. We bought one gallon of paint with a primer to see how we like the paint brand and the color, and it looks great so far. We're going to try to get over to the house today and do a coat of the actual paint color. And if we can, get to Lowe's to buy the rest of our paint colors and primer. We'll see how the road officials like our determination. We'll see if Lowe's is even open.

Problem #1 - Dan and I have discovered that we are NOT house painters. Our ceiling trim-job shows it.
Problem #2 - WE DON'T OWN A SHOVEL. We've never had a need for a shovel, and now that we do they're stinkin' sold out like they're life-sustaining or something.

If you're so inclined, see if you can guess what rooms all of my paint colors will be used for. I would love to see what you think.

If you're in a winter happyland today, enjoy the day. Go out and play!

Just in time...

2008-02-27T19:38:00.002-05:00

I survived the crazy weekend - with something like 10 hours of sleep total. If that.
Here's the recap bullet style:

Friday

Date night with friends Jen and Michael.
A Thai restaurant for dinner.
A coffee shop for dessert, coffee, and more connecting.
We haven't seen them in a while and had a great time.
Jen does interior things and offered to help me with paint colors and stuff for the house.
Say it with me - hallelujah.
I don't think Dan could stand much more indecision and war-raging paint chips.
Those things get brutal when you bring other brands into the mix.

Saturday

Early meeting at the university I work for as-needed. (Read: never because my campus Public Speaking classes have been moved online. You tell me how that makes sense.)
Dan came along and we met with Mandy and Chris for lunch and book browsing.
It's funny when you're looking in the photography section and find a book that should belong in the HOLY-COW-THAT'S-ADULT section.
I guess those types of photographers need some how-to books also.
We didn't buy any books - score a point for not spending on things we don't need.
We wasted time at Lowe's and Target getting ideas.
Met with friends for dinner and game night - with Apples to Apples and Cranium Turbo.
Lots of laughs, puppetry, humming, and competition.
We stayed at my parents' house instead of driving all the way home.
Word to the wise: sleeping on the couch is only fun when the couch - and blanket - is big enough. But when you're sneaking in in the middle of the night - and your younger brother has taken apart the bed from your old room - you have to make do with what you find.

Sunday

Dan had an early meeting at church for more website work he's doing.
He tried to get me up but I was dead tired.
As soon as he pulled out of the driveway, I was wide awake. Go figure.
I got to drive my mama's fun little Tiburon to church. It doesn't have a built-in back massager like my car, though...aka "bump in the trunk." I might have to remedy that for her Christmas present.
Once Dan and I got back to my parents' we all had lunch and then took apart some exercise equipment that my parents are letting us borrow for the house. Exercise regimen - HERE WE COME!
We headed over to a brother's house to help him with networking issues, and had dinner.
Finally, we were home with a couple hours to spare until bedtime.

Monday

Back to the daily grind of work.
Met with our small group for the third week of our Consumed journey.
We were challenged this week to buy everything with cash (no credit - we hardly use anyway) and give up one thing that consumes our time. I think this is consuming my time right now, but Mary Ellen won't let me give it up (wink, wink). Maybe I do need to give up the evening computer time now that my photos are all uploaded, and the blog is updated.
Dan wanted to go all extreme with the week-long challenge and give up one thing that consumes our time, and NOT SPENDING ANYTHING at all. He's already borrowed cleaning supplies from a friend so we can clean our house this weekend (and his friend made up a hilarious joke email about the whole thing).
Dan's so hard core - he gave up TELEVISION for a week! He's allowed to watch it while we're home for our lunch hour, but that's it.
The band on my wrist is to remind me of the challenge.

Are you tired of bullets yet? I am.

A neutral? We haven't made much progress on packing because it's hard to pack when YOU'RE NOT HOME. Or when you just plain ole' have other stuff to do. We are on track, though. The living room, dining room, and decorations/wall art are pretty much done. This week is planned for the office and I have no idea where to start. Blogging probably isn't the best place to start.

A positive? Construction is making its way to us with the expansion of the main road here, and it seems we'll be moving just in time. Or maybe not fast enough, as Dan thinks. The orange barrels and large machinery are not pretty, and people don't know how to drive around them.

Another positive? Even though we're moving away from the nice expansion here with a bike trail and whatever else, our new neighborhood has two pools, sidewalks and nature trails, and a park that's all quiet and all for us insiders (and their GUESTS). Awesome possum.

Yet another? I was thinking about our moving announcements the other night and Dan came up with the best idea for them. He's so creative. They're in the process now... just not sure if I will send them out right after we move, or if I'll wait and combine them with a house-warming party.

That's enough babbling for tonight. I'm going to see what I can get done while there's time!

P.S. We get our house in LESS THAN TWO DAYS!

See you on the other side...

2008-02-22T17:18:00.001-05:00

...of the weekend, that is. I have about a half-hour to post before Dan and I kick off one crazy weekend. Every day is booked.

We're looking forward to Friday, February 29th. At 9:30am. That's when we'll be CLOSING ON OUR HOUSE! It's official. We got the plat view of our land, too, and added that to the sneak peek album.

On Tuesday as the Presidents Day sales were coming to a close, we bought our first major appliance - a refrigerator. The house comes with all other built-in kitchen appliances, but sadly not a fridge. We forked over a lot of dough and feel like we should join some kind of "We love fridges" fan club. Hopefully fridge ownership is all we dreamed of and more.

With the pile of paint chips I'm drowning in right now, and the number of colors I drawn to, I'm about ready to paint each wall in the house a different color. I think that would look really nice...eclectic even...right? I do love color - but I'm thinking the walls need to be neutral enough to match any kind of colors/furniture I bring into the rooms, without being boring. I need serious help.

Where was THIS when I was writing out my mile-long to do list within my Google calendar?! It integrates with Google stuff! Man, so cool...

Time to jet out of here - until next week...

Operation inspiration...

2008-02-16T13:02:00.004-05:00

Happy week o' love. Do you see the names of those two paints in focus? Hehe.

Did you know that I married one fabulous guy? It would take some time to list all of his great qualities, but I will give you this one: he's a fellow list maker. We're both making all sorts of lists for this home-buying process.

Last week I made a list of every room in our apartment, listed the major things that need to be packed and cleaned in each room, and also divided up the apartment into zones. Different zones will be the focus each week until we move, and I've duly noted the things in each zone that can only be done upon move-out. And before you say that I'm going overboard, if I don't have this kind of direction and time line the packing won't get done. We'll be reliving the craziness of our last move - when we had THREE MONTHS and left the majority of stuff until the very last week. Not happening again.

There are basically six weeks until operation move-out when we have to be completely out of our apartment. YIKES. Even though Sheri says (from wise experience) that we'll want to stay at the new house as soon as we get possession, and I'm not one to argue with experience on big, exciting things like this, there is at least ONE thing we need to do before we can spend the night in our rockin' new house: de-winterizing. I don't think the neighbors would be too keen on accepting a new way of fertilizing our yard until we get the plumbing in order. So that's one thing on the list of to-dos once our closing happens.

While they aren't in list form, I've also been creating some inspiration boards for the rooms. I am in love with this paint line, but not with the price, so I need to see if I can find similar colors or order a fan deck to have the colors matched. Here are some inspiring things I've found online lately.

I'm really digging the photos over a window sill or door frame.
That's a whole lot of frames and stuff on shelves, but I sure do like it.
More staggered stuff on shelves. Can you tell I like shelves?
I think I want an inspiration wire in the new office. Not sure where I found that photo.
While this bathroom would be amazing, I manly want the wall color for our bedroom/bathroom. It would go great with the dark brown furniture we have.
We have an entertainment center similar to this, but in black with glass cabinet doors. Dan assures me that ours can look as good as the one above once the speakers and crap aren't sitting on top, and the video games are removed from the shelves. Here's hoping.
The most I've ever put on top of our toilet is a candle. I really like the look of more things. Can't remember where I got this photo either.

Wednesday - Sheri was rolling through town and Dan and I had planned to go take measurements and more pictures of the house (somehow we didn't have enough), so she stopped by and we gave her the royal tour. It was weird to show her with nothing in it, but quite fun...made me even more excited to get in there already. We had Cheddar's for dinner and came back to the apartment to watch American Idol. I'm going to miss the little guy that lived in his car - I really liked his piano performance and unique voice. Then, Sheri made us watch Ghost Hunters International... crazy Sheri and her ghost shows. ;)

Loveday - After work Dan and I had a list of things to do together that included shopping for a refrigerator, getting paint chips, stopping at Hobby Lobby, and having dinner. It was nice just to spend time together - doing things that we were excited for. We didn't find a fridge yet, but got to take in all the different options and prices.

Today - is completely open for the taking. Let's see what all I can get done.

Since a bunch of people have been asking us for more house photos, hopefully this will satisfy the curious - check out a sneak peek of THE INSIDE. And a friendly warning - the previous owners liked blue and other bright colors.

Time to fix some brunch with the hubs and make this Saturday good!

I'm pleased to introduce...

2008-02-08T20:20:00.000-05:00

...the outside of OUR NEW HOUSE!

Say hello to Dan's car while you're at it. Boy are we SUPER STOKED to close on our SUPER DUPER house. Let me say SUPER just a few more times for good measure. We went over yesterday to get shots with the last available sunlight, and ended up losing the light while talking to a neighbor in our cul-de-sac. She absolutely loves the neighborhood, and I think we will too. Her house is actually the reverse of ours inside (totally different outside), so it was cool to see how she laid out her furniture. That's when I became really excited - because our house was a foreclosure and didn't have ANYTHING in it to give an idea of the true space.

After our offer was accepted on Monday, we locked in our loan interest rate by Wednesday and were almost instantly approved. We received our loan paperwork yesterday, and had it signed and sent on its way today after pictures and lunch. So many things bouncing around during one week's time. Dan's looking to close by the 29th of this month - so we'll have a whole month to paint + do what we need to do + move stuff in gradually before we have to move out of our apartment on March 29th. We'll see if that plays out. Wow. Wow. Wow. I simply cannot wait. I've been looking at rooms and paint colors online, and bought a few magazines last night for room and storage ideas.

Random fact: when we move into the house, it'll be the first time I've ever had my own garage spot. I'm especially stoked for that. My little car is especially stoked for that. I'm also looking forward to my monster walk-in pantry, laundry room, jacuzzi tub, and so many other things in this house. Dan, of course, is looking forward to finally having a garage and a place for tools and building things. He can build and fix ALL he wants.

Okay...LOOK what we saw when we pulled up to take pictures today. Yesterday = FOR SALE. Today = SOLD. That's awesome.

For the rest of the night - laundry, a little cleaning, and a little packing with Dan. His little brothers are here with their faces glued to video games for the night, so it may end up to be a game in itself to clean and pack a few little things around them.

We don't have any plans tomorrow and I'm looking forward to it. And I'm off!

Wow...

2008-02-05T19:08:00.000-05:00

Last weekend - chalk it up to another one out and about. Saturday we had a list of to-dos to take care of, which included Dan setting up computers for a client and me looking for new glasses (unsuccessful), along with finding food and seeing the Super Bowl service at church (very funny). Sunday we continued with our new little habit of alternating Sundays between parents. We used to only see mine every other Sunday for a few hours and then fit in visits with Dan's whenever we could because they normally take longer (with double/triple the family members and little brothers that want video game time with big brother). Now we are trying to make it more fair and I'm missing what used to be some fairly free Sundays.

So while we've been balancing up the last month with more friend and family time, more getting out of the apartment, and just more - which was my goal to get out of my computer chair more - Dan's happy with all the extra socializing but I've been very uncreative, unproductive, and working up an unexpected meltdown that erupted Sunday morning. What can I say...I'm an introvert. I like my "me" time and being at home. Maybe I'll get used to these full weekends and varying activities eventually, and be able to take advantage of my weeknights again instead of aimlessly perusing the internet, uploading my photos, doing the dishes, and plopping on the couch...or I'll just go postal. We'll see.

I was optimistic on Monday. I felt good - until 4:00 when I was tired from a long day and ready to bulldoze whatever was in my way. I had just finished talking to someone at work about an issue when Dan came up to me and said "They accepted our offer." With my head in a fog he had to repeat himself a couple of times while I protested in disbelief, "No they didn't."

THEY.
ACCEPTED.
OUR.
OFFER.

By the time I actually believed what he was saying, I wasn't going to scream at work, although that may have been a funny scene. I was in shock almost as much as I was at our engagement, when I had my jaw on the ground for about five minutes before realizing I was supposed to give an answer to, "Will you marry me?"

Holy cow. They really accepted our offer. Dan called our realtor when we got home from work, and found out there was actually only ONE other offer placed (the second one must not have been placed). The other offer was higher than ours, BUT they tried to make changes to the contract and that was a no-no. THE HOUSE IS OURS! I still can't believe it. I keep looking at the listing online and drooling. Not sure yet when we close on the house, but it will be within 45 days - before the end of March. Time to start packing...and looking for a fridge to match the other appliances.

Thank you so much for your thoughts.

Today - I'm still in shock that within 45 days we'll be painting and making the house our own. Dan has some work to do tonight, so I'll be seeing what I can get done as well. I have our website invitation samples on my mind, and I want to get them done. I have about a week's worth of daily photos to download from the camera and post on flickr. And I have a newly formed habit of creative block that I need to kick to the curb.

Let's roll Tuesday evening.

Yikes.

2008-01-31T21:14:00.000-05:00

The BID. IS. IN. Holy master baths and ceiling fans. We had our inspection yesterday and everything turned out as we expected. The house is a VA foreclosure, so there are a few cosmetic things to fix, but overall a great house in a stellar neighborhood for the money. AND everything we want. We already came up with an offer we thought was fair (and hopefully above the others) last week, and after our inspection we were ready to roll with that amount. All we had to do was call our realtor to send that baby on its way. Now... we wait. All offers are due by the fourth and a decision will be made by the eighth. THAT'S LIKE AN ETERNITY.

Cross your fingers and toes, send your prayers, use your magical powers, or do whatever it is you do. We love having your good thoughts - thanks.

Today - is Sheri's birthday. Missus just-got-back-from-a-cruise hasn't posted to her blog yet and I'm waiting to find out how her trip was... especially her excursion to Dunn's River Falls, Jamaica. Hopefully IRIE (pronounced eye-ree - meaning all good).

Today is also the last day of the month, in a year that's going by too quickly already. This weekend is the Superbowl service at church and Dan and I are stoked. I laugh so hard every year - I leave with aching cheeks. If you want to come to Cincinnati Saturday night to get in on the action, let me know. It'll be good times.

I found out the other day that I won't have to do early Wednesdays at work anymore, which I'm pretty excited for. For the 1.5+ years that I've worked at this job, I've had to drag my booty into work at SIX AM. Now I don't know about you, but I didn't know that 5:00 existed twice in one day before I had this job. I was shocked. But really, I think this will help me get on with the morning routine I want. So far it's failed miserably, but I have hope. At least now I can get up at the same time during the week instead of having one day all helter-skelter throwing off the rest of the week.

Other things right now:

enjoying American Idol and ~~The~~ A Daily Show
waiting for LOST and Big Brother
addicted to Terra chips
finally sent in my laptop to get its sound wire repaired
(who knew how much I would miss working speakers)
hoping I get my laptop returned after the "you can't even ship me an EMPTY box correctly... hopefully you can send me a FILLED box correctly" issue
Dan just got our desktop wireless keyboard working again
(good thing the man has enough keyboards and peripherals laying around to sink a boat)
laughing at my crazy cats who exhaust themselves running after a laser light
trying to stay up past nine lately

That's all I've got tonight. I've added some new songs to the playlist. I might get ready for bed and read a bit.

Goodnight.

The flowers were hung on the shelving with care...

2008-01-29T21:31:00.000-05:00

Apparently, "I might be back later..." meant a week later. The last week just up and left, and I'm sitting here at the end of January already. Wowsers.

Home front: after my last post, Dan and I went and saw several houses. I said three, but it was more like four or five. None of them really matter except for ONE that we really like(d). By the next morning (Thursday) both of our stomachs were in knots because we couldn't decide between the top choice (house1) in our first grouping of 11+ homes, and this new one (house2). If you remember, house1 had the master bath issue (because it's sans jacuzzi tub and that's a no-no on my list), and house2 has everything we want in it. The more we thought about it, the more we really wanted house2. Buuuuut, since it was just reduced in price, the seller decided to wait 10 days to accept more bids. DRATS. The special contract on this house also requires any inspections to be done before you bid, so we're taking in inspectors tomorrow morning. If all turns out hunky dory, then we'll make an offer by Friday. The cut-off for offers is Monday the fourth, and the seller will make their decision then.

Oh, and let's not forget to mention that there are already TWO OFFERS standing on this house. So if you're so inclined, we would love some prayers sent our way that we put in the best offer. Muchas gracias.

Wedding front: all is done with Mandy's wedding and the happy couple are down at Disney for the week. Whew! A year's worth of planning over and gone, and a beautiful wedding to show for it. I carried the flowers above and now they're hanging happily to dry. I'll let the bride share her details when she returns. Now I plan to get my hair trimmed up and in some sort of style, even though the pulled back look has been my style of choice for a while now.

Tomorrow: hump day means working early. Dan and I will meet our inspectors (aka family members with varying super powers) around 10a and take them to lunch before returning to work. After that, who knows where the day will go. I still haven't figured out the scheduling-my-everyday thing or the routine thing. I've just been going with the flow of our home search and whatever else pops up. It's sure been nice to let go of things, but I think too much is flying in the air now. Time to bring it all back down to some level of predictable-ness and focus.

Goodnight Tuesday.

Pondering + anticipating...

2008-01-23T15:40:00.001-05:00

Out of the 11 houses we've looked at so far, we're down to two favorites. Actually, you could say we're down to one favorite, but we wish we could take the master bath from the one and stick it in the other. IF ONLY. Last night we went and looked at the final two again to get pictures and another run-through - the looks, the feelings, the similarities, the differences. One seems to come out on top, except for that darn bathroom issue. While we have those houses fresh in our minds, Dan and I are going to look a little farther down the road tonight. THREE more houses (I think) are on the agenda to compare with our top two. I'm excited to see new places and compare.

Tonight - looking at houses, thinking about my Matron of Honor speech (yikes), maybe finishing up some "best me" stuff since there's a new prompt, and I might be back later with some pictures and house bits.

Let's do the humpty-hump and get this Wednesday afternoon moving!