Thursday, July 31, 2014

#ProjectThankful14


 
Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more.  If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough.
~Oprah Winfrey
___________________
 
 
07.24.14 Finally get to see this place



The Grand is a big place where weddings happen every weekend.  I had never been in there & was excited to see what it actually looked like for a wedding rehearsal..
it was beautiful. A little dark for my taste.  But very elegant.
I love how different weddings can be. The last one was on a property of an orchard, this one in an old elegant theater. 
 
 
07.25.14 Celebrating Dad



It was a day late, but cake can never be late, can it?
 
 
 
07.26.14 Wedding Day


We survived another wedding day!
YAHOO!!!!!

 
 
07.27.14 Much Better in front of the camera


 
 I got to take pictures of babies ... 3 of them actually.
Miss Em didn't care for my camera the last time I did her pics, but this time, with 2 boys on each side of her, girlfriend was looking at me giving me the SMIZE I knew she could do.  High Five Miss Em.
Though I did say in this pic, it looks like she's saying STTTTOOOOPPPPPP!!!!!

 
 
07.28.14  Working on my #100SummerMiles
 
 
My beautiful friend Kendwy is doing a #100SummerMiles challenge to see how many miles you can get in until summer ticks away.  It's been fun to keep remembering to get a mile in here or there.  It all adds up.

Side Note - did you see on the news lately that they said no matter how slow you run, how far you run, doing 1 mile a day gives your heart the same benefits of all the fast incredible runners.  SCORE for slow people!
 
 
07.29.14 Lunch Picnic
 
 
The plan was to have Ricky meet me for a picnic.  It took longer for him to get his food then expected so he couldn't make it.  I ended up having a solo picnic by myself.  It was such a pretty day & I was just thankful to be out of the office for an hour, inhaling real air, looking at blue skies, watching boats go down the river.
Stopping for an hour in life to just be.
.... Be still & know I am God. ~Psalm 46:10...
 
 
 
07.30.14 Strength
 

 
We're going into August... & this beautiful girl is still with us... living every day fully.
Loving us... us loving her.  The vet told us she would be gone by April at the latest.  I think Sydney is saying, "April of which year lady?"
I appreciate all the words of encouragement for her, & all the prayers lifted.
Keep 'em going!
 
 
What are you thankful for today?
 
 

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Now it's love's turn....

It was fun to put some of the things I hate yesterday.  Love when I feel like I'm not alone & get the "I'm totally with you on that one"

& some of you asked me how the 'no complaining' thing went?  Well, it lasted for about 2 minutes.


I'm not even joking.

I was at work & my boss called because Humana was canceling his policy.  It's my job to keep all invoices paid- & that was paid... so what was the problem?  Anyways, sit on a phone for 15 minutes with recordings from a health insurance company & then finally talk to someone who is clueless & see if you don't complain.

But what I did notice was how easy it is to complain about things. 

I started over again as soon as I got over the health insurance company bozo's & tried again... & I think I lasted another 10 minutes.

WOW... this is hard....

By the end of the day, I was VERY aware of the complaining & trying to reel it in.  & I think that is the point - to be aware of complaining.  I'm going to try again today & know I'm going to complain, but I'm going to see if I can complain less...

& in honor of all this, I'm changing my tune... I'm making a list of things I love.  Yesterday was the BLAH day... today is all about rainbows & butterflies... so here we go.  A much brighter list.

Things I love:

(& to be fair, I'm keeping people out of this or I'd have a top 50 before I even got to anything other then people in my life... so everyone I know?  It's a given I love you)




1. Doggie snuggles
2. Saturdays with no plans
3. The smell of burning leaves
4. Having my hair straightened at the salon
5. Payday


6. Fun surprises
7. McDonalds Iced Coffee
8. Reading on the porch when its raining
9. Clean sheets on a bed
10. My Kindle ... (I'd panic if I didn't have it with me)
11. Websites that show tv shows for free


12. Insulated cups
13. Nature Box Sriracha Cashews
14. Friendships that develop with blog friends
15. Laughing
16. Going to the movies & the theater being empty


17. Running shoes
18. When all the lights driving in downtown are in sync
19. Being in the office all by myself
20. Trying a new recipe that tastes delish
21. A perfect day in the 70's & sunny



22. Crossing a finish line in a race
23. ipods
24. Having personal conversations with the youth kiddos
25. anything Beauty & the Beast related (not counting the new TV show that is stupid)
26. My written in, torn pages Bible
27. Camera equipment
28. A clean house

& on this blog, WTF always stands for What the Fudge!
... or as Phil Dunphy says, "Why the face?"

29. yummy smelling candles
30. Old navy flip flops
31. Bullet Journaling (... I'm going to make a vlog on this soon)
32. Instagram
33. Eating outside on a beautiful day
34. Singing loudly with the radio


35. Riding with the windows down on a cool day
36. Halloween
37. Cadbury Eggs at Easter
38. My Nutribullet
39. Pearl earrings
40. Maxi skirts all year round


41. Looking through old pictures
42. Taking a day off work
43. Good comfy running shorts
44. Holding new babies
45. Game nights



46. when my cabinets are full & there are tons of food options
47. Target clearance
48. Women's Running magazine
49. laying in bed watching tv on a Saturday morning
50. Disney World




So what are some things that make you happy?

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

No complainiing... followed up by what I hate... (that's messed up)

Anyone else seen these things going around Facebook?


No complaining...

Its funny because I saw it & thought, "I don't complain that much"... & then noticed how much I complain in a day... or an hour...

So I wanted to give it a try.  Not complaining.  But that doesn't mean I can't complain in my mind, right?  Because I'm still totally going to do that... but maybe not giving it a voice is going to make a difference.  We'll see.

We'll see if I can even do it 24 hours... doesn't that seem hard? 

Anyone else a complainer?

I know quiet a few... I won't name any names ;)

I like this

It's funny too because my adorable blog friend over at Mind of Kiwi just did a post on things she hates.  So in the spirit of getting out all my complaining before my 24 hours starts, I'm going to list some of the things I hate.... tell me if you agree... or if I'm just weird...
 
1. Restless sleep
2. Knee Injuries
3. Back pain
4. Cancer
5. Dishes in my sink
6. A dishwasher that needs to be emptied
7. When I don't have time to read
 
 
8. Bicep Tendonitis
9. No closet space
10. Unloading groceries
11. Two-faced people
12. Below freezing temperature days
13. Above 90 degree days
14. Tight pants
 
15. Drinking glasses with finger prints on them
16. Corn
17. Flying
18. Traffic
19. Car sickness
20. When there's not enough time in a day
21. Forgetting what I was going to say
 
 
22. Eyesight after 40
23. Metabolism after 40
24. Root canals
25. Dogs wanting you to love them when you're wearing black
26. Good hair days when you have no where to go
27. Rare days when I could sleep in, but the dogs think otherwise
28. Germs ... especially during cold/flu season
 
 
29. Clothes on the floor
30. Disgusting breakfast foods that shall not be named
31. When people think I'm joking about the disgusting breakfast food & continue to talk about it
32. Missing friends
33. When the DVR doesn't record what you set to record
34. Rudeness
 
 
35. That size small is always in abundance & on the clearance shelves.  Make more XL people!
36. The hunt for a new purse. (I'm picky)
37. Sagging pants on guys
 
 
 
38. Anxiety
39. The question, "How many kids do you have?"
40. PMS
41. Dirty public restrooms
42. Food touching
 
 
43. Animal Cruelty
44. Swimming in water where creatures live
45. Sand
46. Cleaning a counter or a room & 20 minutes later, the counter is covered & the room is trashed
47. Cell phone batteries that last 2 hours
 
 
48. Having to stop & get gas
49. Touching grass
50. That I haven't been to Disney World in 15 years
 
What about you? 
Before you stop complaining along with me (right?)
... what are some things you hate?
 
 

Monday, July 28, 2014

The weekend where someone told me I scare the poop out of them... (& that's putting it nicely)



It was a photography weekend for me... that's for sure

Saturday was a wedding.  I've said it before & I'll say it again, weddings are in a world of its own.  If you ever worked a wedding as a photographer, you get it.  If you haven't, you'd really never understand the amount of work in it.

I left my house at 8 am... & I walked in the door at night at 10:30 pm
... & I think we sat down for maybe 30 minutes total the whole day.

here are some highlights of the day

*  They were getting ready at the Marriott in downtown. I hadn't ever been in a hotel for prep work. I LOVED IT!  So many beautiful locations & wonderful lighting in the room.  The hotel had 3 other weddings taking place IN the hotel & 6 other wedding parties prepping in rooms.  My bride wanted to find another bride so badly to take a picture with them.  We did find a group of groomsmen that we saw in the lobby that my bridesmaids & bride took pictures with :) 

This is how I expect the groom to see that picture
 

* It was supposed to be one of the hottest days of the year with a heat index of like 105.  Honestly, I don't know if it was being in downtown with the wind capturing in between the buildings, but I don't think it was that hot. I mean, it was warm... but it wasn't like 105 hot.  Thank you Jesus.  All the bridal party was so good about the weather too. 

* Chasity was back for her first wedding since becoming a momma.  This was a new experience because she had to plan when she had to pump in between the schedule.  It worked out perfectly.  There is hardly any down time whatsoever in a wedding, but every time we switched from guys to girls or getting ready for the wedding, it was the perfect time for her to run to the bathroom.  I'm so glad that worked out well.  We were also in places that had ice all day to keep her stash fresh & ready to take home to baby. 


Chasity deserves all the high fives

* I literally lived the day on 1 sugar cookie & 5 glasses of lemonade.... & I peed once the entire day.  How unhealthy is that?  There is just no time to stop to eat or drink... & when you don't eat or drink, you don't have to pee.  TMI?  It's just crazy what your body goes through on a wedding day.  I actually got a little dizzy at one point & that's when we got to the venue & they had a fountain machine for drinks. I don't normally drink anything but water or tea, but I needed sugar fast so I downed the lemonade so I didn't pass out while the bride was walking down the aisle.

* Speaking of no drinking or eating... I was so dehydrated on Sunday.  Like, so dehydrated that I could feel the skin on my lips & throat feeling raw.  I think I drank 2 gallons of water Sunday.

* This bride was AMAZINGLY STUNNING... her dress... her veil... her body... she knew how to work it too.  I'm so excited about her pictures.

Look at this dress!!!!

* She wore cowboy boots too... how cute is that?

* I felt so bad for the bride when her flowers arrived.  They were literally DEAD!  I'm not even joking.  Her throw away bouquet was a bunch of wilted, dried up flowers.  The guys boutonnieres were all the same.  I try not to make a big deal about things on a wedding day but when I saw them, I gasped... But HUGE props to the bride. They weren't even the flowers she had ordered.  She wanted peonies & her bouquet even had fake little white flowers you could get at the dollar store.  She was just like, "Whatever" & didn't want to take many pictures with them.  She didn't freak out or even really get upset about it.  That right there is my kind of bride.

This may have been my reaction when I saw the brides flowers

* Having a HUGE bridal party, who is drinking from the start of the day, its very easy to loose control of everyone... so my job is make sure we stay on schedule as close as possible.  We had so many snags that just happen, from ripped dresses, to late makeup, that could have pushed us behind, so I'm Johnny-on-the-spot about 'kindly' pushing people to hurry up, or listen up.  A good loud voice comes in handy.  It was pretty funny when Chasity overheard the best man say, "Man, that photographer lady scares the #@&% out of me"... that made me laugh.  Every time I saw him in the day, he was like, "Yes ma'am.. no ma'am"... he really was the funniest guy.  He told me, "I know I'm your favorite best man ever"... he really was.  I introduced him to Ricky at the end of the night, & he knuckled up to Ricky & told him how scary I am too :) .... don't mess with the wedding photographer

But I say it in a nice way

* I got to ride in the party bus with the bridal party to the venue.  My biggest fear was that I would get motion sickness riding sideways, in the back, with a bunch of people drinking & the smell of alcohol.  I guess it was good I hadn't ate anything all day because I held it together.   It helped that the bridal party was so much fun, they took my mind off of the drive.

* I felt pretty proud of myself, when at the venue, they had some pictures I took of the couple up in HUGE prints ....



* It was so great that one of the bridesmaids was actually one of my past brides.  This bride was actually a bridesmaid in her wedding... the connections you make from weddings is the best.  They are cousins so I got to see some of the family from the first wedding. I love that. I love seeing grandparents again. I always want to run up & hug them.

Photo: Loved getting to be with these ladies all day! I may have to recruit myself as an assistant one weekend just to get even more time with you two!
My previous bride with Chasity (I totally snagged her picture)
... & who is that AMAZING photobomber in the background?....


* On the way home, goodness gracious... the heavens opened.  It rained so hard & the lighting was so intense, we had to pull over & wait under a gas station.  I just thanked Jesus (once again after a hundred times during the day) that we had already gotten all the equipment to the car. I can't imagine being outside trying to load up cameras & lenses in that....

* I slept like a baby Saturday night...

Sunday, I had church & then started to upload my wedding pictures... & then loaded back up the gear & headed out for MORE PICTURES... YAHOO!!!

This was for a baby session.  Goodness gracious.  If all babies were like this, I'd do baby sessions every day.  We literally had this baby laying in a baseball glove & he was like, "Yeah man, whatever"... so precious.

We took pictures over at his grandmother's house - who is also my hair dresser - who is also Chasity's grandmother - who is always my friend... get all that?  So she wanted a picture of all her new babies in her family.  Her 2 grandbabies & her new great grandbaby... so yes, we got 3 babies in a picture.  That was so sweet.  Surround yourself with babies & see if you can even get in a bad mood. Not possible.



I loved it because Miss Em was even in a good mood & not afraid of my camera this time around.  She needs to get used to me being in her face with a camera.  Chasity said if she didn't get used to it, that would be the one thing she would get grounded for :)  A true photographer right there!


Photo
Chasity posted this this morning... I love it so much

So I ended up getting home Sunday night about 5:30... & I was beat.  But so happy about how the weekend went.  Lots of happiness & love in front of me.  Can't complain about that.

How was your weekend?


Friday, July 25, 2014

Five on Friday



1. Jolly Ranchers


 


I haven't had jolly ranchers in forever.  They remind me of my grandmother.  When I was little & I would go to the nursery/kindergarten that my aunt owned & my grandmother worked at, during nap time, she'd take me over to the 5/10 store (which doesn't even exist anymore... I'm old....) & she'd get me watermelon Jolly Ranchers.  When my grandmother passed away, I put watermelon Jolly Ranchers in with her.  Never know how long that trip to heaven is - she may have needed them :)

But can we talk about how horribly disgusting the blue flavored jolly rancher is? 


I tried one the other day & I thought I was going to puke.  The worst part?  The flavor doesn't EVER leave your mouth.  I kept eating everything & drinking everything to get the taste out of my mouth... nope.... that disgusting flavor of death lingers.  Those things should be banned.


2. The Royals



I can't believe that Prince George is 1 year old.  How precious is he?  I think he looks so much like his daddy... & yes, I remember when William turned 1 year old & those photo sessions of him on the lawn with Diana & Charles.  I can never get enough on William, Kate & George.  Such a fairy tale come to life.

I'm also loving the Queen showing a little 'umph' with her photo bombing some selfies.  Good to see she's not 100% stuffy... maybe just 98%?

View image on Twitter

View image on Twitter


3.   Dolls in your yard?

Dolls Resembling Young Girls Placed Outside Their Homes in California
no no no no no no no no no AND no

Did you hear about the lady in California who was putting porcelain dolls in the front yards of people....

& it gets even worse...

& the dolls look like the little girls that live in the house!!!

WHAT.IS.THIS.MADNESS?

I'm sorry - porcelain dolls freak me out anyways.
If I were to walk out & see one on my lawn that looked like me, I'd run inside & never come back out... ever... again...


4.  I'm walking


As of today, I am 9 days of getting over 10,000 steps on my FitBit.
I've become obsessed with trying to hit the 10,000 mark every day & can't believe I've made it 9 days in a row.
I usually leave work at 4:00pm & have only had like 1,500 steps.  That is sad. And so bad for your body to sit like that all day.
So I've been moving every hour at work, adding in more walking at night when my work outs are more strength training, I've been moving...

I'm excited to see how many days in a row I can go.


5. Michael Jackson

I have always been 'iffy' on Michael Jackson's songs, either love them or hate them, but his new one they released, "Love Never Felt so Good" - I so love that song.  It makes me depressed that it's on car commercial though.  So not a Michael Jackson thing to do.
But I think this song reminds me of his old stuff.  It's so catchy.
Plus, Justin Timberlake?
He can never do wrong in my eyes...




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