Christmas-ing

So I know I've been slacking on my picture posts lately. This week started by finishing Christmas preparations and working three days. So we were pretty busy. And then we hit the road to see lots of family. I'll post some pics posted soon (because I have a fair amount). In the meantime, have a great time celebrating with friends and family, as we will be doing.

Scrapbook Sunday V

This week I've completed two mini albums that I'll be giving as gifts at Christmas. So I thought I'd share a pic from each. (I wish I could share different pages, but I don't want to give away who I'm giving them to.)

I love this paper! You can't tell very well, but it's glittery!

First page of the second album.

I'll have to share more later after I've given these away!

Best mail day

So today had to be the best mail day ever! (It completely crushed yesterday's mail.) We got 8 Christmas cards in the mail and that was it! Granted one of these "cards" was from Comcast (who I dislike very much), but it was still a card that said "Season's Greetings". See for yourself...

To the people who's cards we received today - thank you for sending them when you did! It definitely made me smile. I love all the pictures too!

Friday

Today was a good mail day - a package and a couple Christmas cards!

Thursday

Today I was preparing for our small group Christmas dinner. We made ham along with one of my favorite dishes - corn casserole. I love this dish and it seems like I only have it a few times a year. The funny thing is that I didn't even like or eat corn casserole before my junior year of college. I tried it when some of our friends gathered for an Easter dinner at my friend, Holly's, house. And I've loved it ever since.

All about me

Wednesday

Today I went to do some work at the Caterpillar plant. We recently started a new project with them. So it required myself and another guy to do some inspections before I start the actual engineering work. So I had to pull these uncomfortable things out - my steel-toed shoes.

We found out that it works better to do the inspections next week, so we'll be back for a few days next week (before the holidays really start). After today, my feet were so sore from standing/walking on them most of the day. It's crazy that my feet were used to this torture when I worked at the plant full-time. Previously my feet would be tired, but nothing like today. Hopefully they can get used to it again, but rather quickly.

Tuesday

This was my attempt at staying warm on my windy and chilly walk with Maggie tonight.

Christmas wreath

I like this wreath a lot. Right now it's hanging on our front door. My mom was kind enough to give it to me since she didn't want it anymore. (Thanks Mom!) Free things are always the best!

I can't believe it, but Christmas is just right around the corner.

Scrapbook Sunday IV

I did a couple more pages in Maggie's book this week. Here's one of them.

I love the letters with the little dogs. And the pictures are so cute because they're from when Maggie was a puppy. Look how small she is!

I thought I would also post a pic of something else I've been working on - two mini albums. I'll be giving these to people at Christmas, which I'm excited about. These are the first ones I will be giving to someone. The recipients will be able to put in their own pictures and, if they want, writing. I'm only partially done with them now. I just have to finish tabs on one and putting stickers, embellishments, and pieces of cardstock in both.

I know it's going to be a busy week and a half with putting in more time with work before the holidays (because a new project was just released, yah!), finishing Christmas presents, having a party, packing, baking...the list goes on. Here's to this busy but joyous time of year!

Hidden images

Do you see what I see?

A heart! I didn't even notice this until I looked at the picture on my computer. When I saw it on my walk with Maggie today, I just thought the mixture of rocks, water, and ice were neat. I'm glad I decided to take my camera on our walk today. I was kicking myself yesterday for not taking it because the ice looked cool on the pond yesterday when the sun was shining bright. It was really cloudy today, but the neat ice formation were pretty much still there.

Friday - Grandma's french toast

This morning I decided it was time for something different for breakfast instead of the normal cereal, bagel, or oatmeal. So I decided to make french toast. And not just any french toast, but the way my Grandma used to make it (or at least similar) - butter in the pan (instead of cooking spray) and granulated sugar (instead of syrup or powdered sugar).

Wow, did this bring back memories while I was eating my french toast. It reminded me of the days when I would eat 4, 5, 6, or more pieces! (I was probably about 10 years old or so.) When I was younger, I also remember my grandpa cutting my french toast for me into squares in such a systematic way - cutting it very fast into a grid. It just took me back to my grandparents kitchen and remembering even more things about them and my time there. It's amazing how something small like this can bring a flood of moments to mind! I recommend trying something like this that will bring back memories from years ago.

Picture Update - Fudge, snow, fashions

I've been slacking this week on keeping up on my pictures. Here are the last few days of pictures.

Thursday

I made Paula Deen's Dummy Fudge for small group last night. I wanted to find a simple recipe since it was my first time making fudge and this recipe really is simple. Click here for the recipe. I used almonds instead of pecans and I substituted peanut butter chips for the butterscotch ones. I think it turned out wonderfully for being so easy!

Wednesday

We had more snow today and the snowflakes were absolutely humongous! It was also very windy - about 40mph with stronger gusts. There was snow flying everywhere (along with a little bit of trash). Maggie and I braved the weather for a short walk. I wasn't going to run (mostly because of the wind) but Chris convinced me I would be ok...and I was ok. (I think Thursday's run actually ended up being worse because it was colder and it was still windy.) I ended up taking a lot of pictures today - here are some of them. I couldn't pick just one!



The funny thing about this picture is that I accidentally caught Maggie in the background of this picture pooping. I'm glad I was able to crop her out (to spare you all) and still have a great picture.

Tuesday



We had another fashion show planning meeting tonight at McAllister's Deli. (The show will be this coming May 15th here in Lafayette.) It was pouring tonight. I'm glad it wasn't 5 to 10 degrees colder or else I may have been snowed in.

First snow 2009

It's official. We had our first snow here early this morning. Only an inch, but that will do for the first one. I know there will be more to come. This was taken from the back door, inside the house. I didn't venture out until I ran right before lunch. By that time, all of this beautiful stuff was pretty much gone. So I'm glad I at least captured this much.

I couldn't believe how many accidents there were down in Indianapolis this morning. I guess the salt trucks didn't get out early enough because the roads were like a sheet of ice. I have a feeling they will be more prepared next time.

Scrapbook Sunday III

So this year (yes I started this past summer) I've been working on a scrapbook of Maggie. Right now I'm on a section called "Maggie's Favorite Things" - these are all things that Maggie appears to love. I decided to go back to Maggie's book this week and complete the pages in this section. The page below shows a few of her favorite things.


After this section will be another section called "Memorable moments" - just a mix of some favorite pictures and some interesting stories from Maggie's life.

Go here for some pictures of ealier pages in the scrapbook.

Exterior Christmas Decor

Friday

A view of some exterior lights at our house...



Saturday

There are several of the Christmas blow-up yard characters in our neighborhood this year. I personally find them a little annoying and unnecessary, but at least they're not sitting in my yard. When we were in college, we drove by a house (a nice one in a nice neighborhood) that had about 10, and some of them were duplicates!

Anywho...Maggie sometimes goes up to these (especially when they're deflated) and just sniffs them and probably doesn't really know what to think of them. I thought it was funny when Chris told me that Maggie gave an extra special glare to this particular character.

Interesting

So recently I've been doing more activities that require me to be creative, such as scrapbooking, taking pictures, looking for craft projects, etc. These are all very right-side-of-the-brain oriented. It's just ironic to me since I went to school to become an engineer. Maybe I've been honing in on the creative side of me since I've been away from it for a while and didn't get to be creative very often while I was working. I don't know. But I do remember that in 7th grade when they make you take one of those tests to see what you should do when you grow up, one of my top three was an interior designer...interesting. (I don't remember what the others were.) Now even as I'm scrapbooking, though, I find myself being meticulous about placing everything on my page. But maybe that's just the perfectionist side of me and not the left side of my brain. Don't get me wrong, I like doing civil engineering work, but maybe I just need a way to express the right side of my brain every once in a while.

comfy sleeping position

She loves her football.

deck the halls

a simple decoration...

...Hello December

I thought it appropriate to post something involving Christmas on the first day of December. This is one of Chris' ornaments on our tree that he received because of his love for running. Yesterday Chris got the tree down and setup it up, and then I picked out the ornaments and put them on the tree. I've also got most of the Christmas decor up inside the house (although I think I'll make a few things to put around the house) and we even put up some lights outside this year! (Thanks honey for doing the lights outside.) I'm sure there will be more Christmas pics this month.

So recently I realized that I forgot to post some news that involves running. So it's appropriate that I post about it now, given the picture I posted...Chris and I have signed up for next year's Indianapolis Mini Marathon! This was the race that I ran in this past May for the first time. Chris started running again seriously this past summer and he decided next year he wants to run a mini marathon and, I believe, also a full marathon. I told him I would run the mini again, but I'm still not sure about the entire 26.2 miles. Part of me wants to do it because next year would be a good time in my life to run it and then my brain kicks in and says, "you seriously want to run 26 miles?" So I think I'll wait until the spring to make my decision about the full marathon and see how things are going with training to improve my mini time from this year.

Goodbye November...

I took this picture earlier this month (there's no way the mum still looks this good now), and I wanted a chance to post it before November ended! Here's to the end of semi-warm days (although it's supposed to be in the 50's tomorrow), pretty leaves, pumpkins and the beginning of snow, ice, pretty Christmas lights and decorations, eagerly awaiting Christmas (and finishing Christmas shopping) and the New Year.

Scrapbook Sunday II

Sunday
Here's my scrapbooking picture for the week. This is in the same scrapbook of my family's trip to Orlando/Disney World.


A new technique I tried was stitching some sequence as borders on the top and bottom - another idea I found in a magazine. I liked this idea because I have a little bit of sequence that I'm wondering what I can do with and I have to hand-stitch because I don't have a sewing machine!

Also, while we were visiting my family over Thanksgiving, my mom showed me some homemade cards that she bought at a craft show recently. After looking at them, they seemed pretty simple. I've never been much of a card-maker until I started making cards for friends and family for special occasions over the last year. This is something that I might have to try out and maybe start selling some cards to make money. I'm typically slow at making things, but if I make several of the same cards, it won't take that long after the first one is done...hmmm, something to think about.

Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving Day (Thursday)
I am thankful that we can set aside time from our busy lives to appreciate the important things in life.



Black Friday
No, I am not thankful for Black Friday (although I did participate by getting up at 3:30 am!). But I am thankful for the unique (but sometimes obsurd) opportunities that living in America offers. If I can look past some of the stupid things that are "America", I can see the "American" things that I am thankful for - safety, freedom, education, a life full of blessings.

(Side note: The line waiting outside Target in STL at 5am was crazy! The line was all the way to the end of the building and more. It took probably 5-10 minutes for everyone to get in the building! I took this after most of the people had gone in. The engineer in me was wondering how close they came to the building's maximum occupancy.)

Saturday
I am thankful that God gives us new days to start anew (and beautiful sunsets, but I've already mentioned nature).

(Side note: I couldn't believe this picture once I looked at it on my computer. This is the original picture with the only editing being the text!)

the best family

I'm forever thankful for my family. I wouldn't trade the world for these two. And if Chris acts the same way with our future children as he does with Maggie, I know he'll be a loving dad someday. Here's to a great Thanksgiving tomorrow with your family.

(Chris likes to take a power nap with Maggie when he gets home from work. Isn't this sweet? I'm glad I finally caught it on camera.)

Week of Thankfulness

Today I remembered that this week I wanted to include pictures of things I am thankful for since it's Thanksgiving! So here's a repost for yesterday.

Monday

Even the most simple things in nature can be so beautiful. Imagine what life would be like if there was no beauty in nature. I'm thankful that God made his creation as beautiful as he did!

Tuesday

I'm very thankful that we have this special gift in our lives called Maggie. She is quite the character sometimes, but I can't imagine life without her. She can be such a sweetie and can make you smile anytime you're down.

Trees and "waterfalls"

On our walk yesterday...

I was excited to see a picture in a magazine this week that showed an appropriate way that I could use the "waterfall" technique in Picnik. So I wanted to try it out.

Great weekend

Chris and I had a great weekend. Our small group had planned a bonfire/party at Brian and Amanda's near Crawfordsville on Saturday night. We decided to each bring some chili to share for dinner. So on Saturday, Chris made up our chili. He decided to make a white chicken chili. It turned out delicious! In the meantime I worked on packing up our shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child.

We had a great time at the party. Brian and Amanda have a great house out in the country with a little bit of land. They have a 6-month great dane (Gus) and an older greyhound (Patti). They also have a couple cats, fish, and a peacock! I think Chris fell in love with Gus while we were there. So now, guess who wants a great dane (although he had wanted one before)? Anyway, we had a great time trying each other's chili, talking, and sitting around the bonfire on a beautiful night with a clear sky. There's nothing like sitting by a bonfire and looking up at the stars!

Then, Chris was happy that the Colts won on Sunday, and I had the chance to take our church's shoeboxes to the drop-off location. I was happy that our church collected 35 boxes! That's great for a small church like LCC. The pic below is all of the boxes in the back of my car!

Scrapbook Sunday I

So I've decided my Sunday "picture-a-day" posts are going to be about scrapbooking! I thought it would be something fun to write about. And, mainly, it will help keep me accountable to hopefully get at least one page done a week.



Currently I'm working on a scrapbook of a vacation my family took to Orlando in January 2004. This page is about the flower garden we walked through near the foot of the castle in Magic Kingdom. I made some rosettes to put on my page. I found these rosettes in a magazine recently and wanted a chance to make some. They're really simple - you just cut a strip of paper with edge scissors, gather/pleat the paper to make it into a circle, and use a button and thread to hold in place. (The wider the strip of paper, the bigger the rosette.) I'm excited to make more of these in the future.

2 days of Maggie

Friday

The sun finally came out today after it had rained all week. I caught this picture of Maggie.

Saturday

I was packing our shoeboxes today for Operation Christmas Child. I bought a squishy mini football and Maggie happened to find it. Yes, that was the first thing she picked up. She was so excited about it everytime I picked it up. Mainly I kept picking it up to keep it away from her. But I just had to catch her two expressions - one of anticipation because she thought I might actually let her have it and one of disappointment when I put it away. She just cracked me up. Maggie does have her own football, except it's much bigger, is green, squeaky, and made of plastic (instead of foam).

Running photography

Since I've been doing this "picture a day" thing, I've been noticing more things that I can take pictures of. But a lot of these have been while I'm running! It reminds me of the idea of running photography, which I believe is in the movie "Yes, Man". (Jim Carrey's character's girlfriend has a running photography group.) While I was first watching this movie, I remember thinking 'that's actually kind of a good idea'! And now I know why! You can cover so much more ground and see so much more than on a walk. The only problems I see are that you have to carry the camera with you the whole time and you'll probably have to stop running to take any pictures. This probably wouldn't be a big deal unless you're training and not just running to be running. Nonetheless, I may have to do this one day - maybe on an easy-run day...

Thursday walk

Here's a picture that I took while Maggie and I went on our walk this afternoon. It's been rainy yet again today. I'm looking forward to the next few days when it won't be raining!

Jones-Farmer Wedding

I thought I would post some more pictures from our trip to Missouri this past weekend. It was a long trip but yet fun. We also got to spend some time with Chris' mom and little sister since we drove out with them. And Maggie got to spend the weekend in Columbus with her "big brother" Max. Thanks to Chris' older sister for watching her while we were gone!

Friday night rehearsal - so sweet that Brittany had both her grandpa and step-dad walk her down the aisle.

Beautiful church

Big bouquet of bows!

Wedding day

Brittany's dress was so pretty!

No pictures of Chris and I, but Chris' mom has some on her camera. I'll have to get those because there are some good ones!

A posted a few more pix on my facebook. Go here for those.