P365+1

I'm really going to try to do this! I found a template from 2009 by Mushy or something similar and it will be a 25 page photobook when I'm done. Making it much more cost effective than having 52 pages or more. So I'm going to roll with it. So far I have made it! Hey, it's 4 days!! I figure if I work on it each week, I should be able to keep up. I can kind of pre-plan it out when I have time so it will make it easier. Who knows if I will really keep up my goal. I've started this many years in a row and never made much past January. I figure it can be weight loss record keeping too. Two birds with one stone?! Sure!

New Year 2012

So I've officially updated my ticker for my weight loss. UGH...Holidays were not kind...no strick that, I was not kind. I have no one to blame but myself. I have slacked at my walking and not keeping track of what I am eating. Not much caring either. Not sure why I got this way? I guess I just got caught up in the season. Hey, I'm allowed. I just need to re-focus. I can do this. I just feel kind of sad about the whole holiday season. I blame the weather. We have only had one day of any measureable snowfall amounts. It's been in the 50's and rainy. HATE IT. I love my snow. There's a dusting outside this morning. Nothing too exciting. But maybe this means we are moving in the right direction? Ok...off to figure out my meal planning for the week and clean up before the kids head back to school tomorrow. And we go back to work.

My sister's wedding was awesome! I am not sure I have ever been to such a formal affair in all my life?! I guess I didn't know my sister as well as I thought I did?! I never took her as the formal affair kind of girl? (we have the same father and didn't grow up together) Oh well, it was a blast and that makes it worth it! They had fireworks, real live fireworks that went off for about a half hour. Amazing! A photobooth by 321SayCheese.com. We took full advantage of that, let me tell ya! FUN! We made it worth the money from just my siblings! LOL

I guess that's enough for today. I'll try remain true to my regular blog postings this year. TRY!

Kindle Fire

I got one for Christmas!! I love it! I read my first book on it. Water for Elephants. Great book! Easy read. But still a time sucker. I have NOT read a book since I graduated College. Kid you not! I vowed when I walked away from there that I was done reading anything. I held true to my word for nearly 18 years. Wow! If only I was that stubborn about losing weight! LOL bwahaha

So what was your favorite gift this year? Share with me! Or share with me some other MUST READS! I may just want to read another!

Good Bye 2011

Wow...this was a strange year. Good in many ways but just as equally rotten in others. I am not sure I can comment on the bad parts as we all know where it will head. (the loss of my Brother) So I've taken a few moments today to come up with my top 20 lists for 2012. They are goals and/or bucket list items. There is no real order to them except for the first one. That one is most important to me. The rest just need to happen! So here we go, I'm going to share them with you. This may make me more accountable?
1. Start Weight Watchers back up
2. Exercise in some fashion-daily
3. drink LESS Diet Coke. I refuse to give it up but I will try to do less.
4. Buy new scrub jackets for work. I can swim in the ones I own.
5. Find black boots. (this needs to happen soon or I'll just skip it)
6. Re-do our TV/Computer Room in ORANGE!
7. Pay down my Kohl's bill
8. Say NO more often to things I really don't want to do
9. Go to North Carolina (visit family there)
10. See my Sister more often.
11. Go to Mackinaw Island with the family
12. Meet up with Shelley Moore & other old Scrapbook buddies.
13. take more "everyday" pics of my life
14. de-clutter my house. get rid of things that I do not need.
15. take clothes to re-sale shop
16. work on boys elementary school books. (organize, scan, and create)
17. save $10/week for a nice 25th anniversary trip (7 years away)
18. paint foyer
19. Make Shell Mackay have to come see me....see #1!
20. Blog More. Facebook less.

WISH ME LUCK! They may not seem like big tasks but they are important to me. If I complete half this list by the end the year, I'll be very happy! Some can not be crossed off because it's an ongoing goal. But it I start it, it counts, right?! LOL

Summer, where'd you go?

Wow, Summer was a whirlwind. It was HOT! It was fun, but way too fast! I love autumn but for some reason, I am not looking forward to like I usually do. Something has changed. Not sure what it is but I am just not feeling like I did towards fall. Is that I know the cold and sickies will follow? I had a rough winter last year. Being without power for 3.5 days in sub-zero weather did something to me. Left a scar, a long, deep scar. A very ugly scar. I'm so sick of rain. I just want to be able to enjoy my Son's football games without it pouring and freezing. Everytime we have a game, it rains. And gee...calling for rain tomorrow too. Grrr...

I've got a lot on my plate still. I'm learing to say no to things but when I do, I say yes to one more thing because I know I have said NO! Must stop with the yes'. I wean myself off one project only to pick up a new one. But I'm mixing it up so that has to count for something.

I'm ready to go a full house PURGE. I feel like my interests have changed and things that I used to like are not what I like now. Color, decor, stuff. I have a lot of Stuff. Too much. It needs to go.

So many thoughts running around in my head and I'm not sure I wanna talk about them. Seems like when I do something comes along and changes it. So if I keep to myself, maybe things won't change. I think I am jinx'd. Just as soon as I say something the total opposite usually happens and I don't get what I want or thought I wanted. Everything happens for a reason and I firmly believe it but why can't things just go MY WAY once?!

whine whine whine whine whine....be thankful I don't post here more often!

College

Fast forward 6 years....I've just lived what I will go through again with my own child. I moved an adoptive son of mine into his dorm room yesterday. Wow...emotional. (I've become attached to local student here over the past year and helped him and my cousin move into their dorm room.) So even though he has only been a part of my life for about a year, it was hard to drop him off knowing he was on his own of sorts. He's used to it, I'm sure, but I am not. I can't imagine what it must be like for REAL parents. I had to fight back tears as I walked to the car and I'm doing the same thing now. He's such a great kid and I just wish him nothing but success. He's going into Nursing! The medical field will be getting a real winner someday! I honestly don't know if there are enough words to describe how proud I am of him. So this pic will have to speak my words for me!

Wedding today

My Sister In Law is getting married today! Here are my boys (note: they each picked out their own outfit. It wasn't planned that they would have the same shirt.)

It's been sunny and beautiful all day and now as we enter the last hour before it starts, its all cloudy and has started to sprinkle. Figures. Outdoor wedding and outdoor event following. UGH....No rain ALL SUMMER LONG until NOW. Such is life...our life anyways.

Rumors, Inc.

We did it! My InLaws have opened the doors to their dream. They bought a 137 year old brick building in our town and turned it into a family Sit-down restaurant. The building was purchased in Oct. 2010. It was full of stuff as it was used as a storage facility for another local business owner. So the official ground breaking didn't happen until March 2011. And we offically had our first paying customers on Saturday, July 16, 2011. It was a gorgeous sunny day with lots of baseball games happening in town so there were lots of people about. We just opened without any warning to the public and the house was filled to capacity (seats 70 plus 24ish seats outside) by dinner time!! Word of mouth in this town is amazing...hence the name RUMORS!! wink wink!

I've got a few pics to share of the progress. I'll add them as I can.

Morgan and Aron

Click here to view this photo book larger

May 5th

It's been a month since my last post. Wow. Still no final word on my brother. They said up to 6 weeks so they must be going to honor that.
I've been beyond busy with Graduation Projects. I am doing projects for the local kids who I photographed. They are looking amazing. I'll share them as they get passed out to the owners. I don't want to spoil the surprise. Not that any of them would be reading my blog, but better safe than sorry.
I can't believe we only have three more weeks left of school. WOW. This year FLEW. We are done May 27. I have a Bridal Shower this Saturday, Sunday is Mother's Day. The following weekend is the last Middle School Dance of the year, and I think we might be moving into our new office at work! FINALLY! Then the next weekend is Will's class sleepover at his teachers house. And the weekend I should have been going to California. BUT, times being what they are, I just couldn't swing it. Which is a lucky blessing so I don't miss the Classroom Sleep Over. The families Restaurant is coming along nicely. I've been helping out when I can. It's fun. But A LOT of hard work at the same time. And ironically enough, I think it bring us all closer together. Didn't think we could be any closer but it seems like it.
Just wish my own family was closer to me. But life is not always what you want and just have to deal with it. Josh's family does a wonderful job filling in the void. Very Lucky!
And it just hit me the other day, I will have a TEENAGER in SEPTEMBER?! WHAT??? HOW? That's just not right.
Well, I guess this is enough to bore you all for a few minutes. See ya next month!?

Lost my Brother

My brother has passed away unexpectly. We are waiting for autopsy results. Visitation is Friday from 1-3pm at Eagles funeral home. This is my favorite picture of us. The only sibling that is missing from this picture is our Sister Brooke. This was taken in July at my Sister's wedding. Chris is the one directly above me. I love this picture because we are truly being US. Each of us in this picture are doing exactly what I would expect them to be doing. We are a very tight knit group of siblings. I am so proud of close we are. Most people don't have a clue that we are not all TRUE siblings. Some of us are half, some are step, some are whole. But we don't really care about those TITLES. To us....we are SIBLINGS! To us...we are FAMILY! RIP Chris. You will be missed and there will always be a void in my heart from your death. 33 years is not long enough to have walked on this earth. Please take care of us while you learn the ropes in heaven. Watch over us and keep us safe. We promise to never forget you. We promise to stay true to the 149 Crew! I LOVE YOU CHRIS! I will miss you more than you will ever know.

Ice Ice Baby

Well we just suffered through one of the worst ice storms that I can remember in Michigan. We were without power from Sunday night to Wednesday night. HORRIBLE, Horrible, horrible. I hope I never have to go through that again. My boss let us borrow his generator on Monday night. It got down to 48 inside before we got it up and running. Power came back at 6:36pm on Wednesday night. Ahhh...I took some pics. It was truly beautiful to see but man, I don't ever wanna see it again. They are calling for a snow storm to hit us tonight which could drop 4-8" on us. Wow, really? I love snow but I'm so over this winter stuff now. We had nearly 60 degree weather last weekend and now I'm itching to see springtime. Here's a few pics:Looking out my front door.Looking down the street.Thick thick thickSpring...where are you???

Project 52 is a dud

I suck...nuff said.

Project 52- 2011

So I've really been thinking about the Project 365 or Project 52 for the new year. I've tried many times in the past to do the 365/a photo a day but by the 2nd week of Jan I was done. So...I've thought long and hard about it and I really want to tackle it this year. I am going to do P52. A photo a week and I am going to take it one step farther still. I'm going to do a THEME. I am going to capture the people in my life who make me, me. I'm going to dedicate a week to a person in my life. I will obviously have lots of family members that will get used but there are also people out there who may not be aware of what they mean to me so I am going to search them out have my photo taken with them. There are a few people who I really want in my photo album but due to location...it may not happen. So if you do not show up in my album, it doesn't mean you are not loved. It means you are not near to me to have your picture taken with me! I'll figure out a way around that one! So...I'm off to make my list of 52 people who have helped make me, ME! Since last year was all about finding the new me "REVEAL"...this year is about sharing my life with those who support me. So my word of the year is SHOW. I'm going to SHOW people around me what they mean to me and how they belong in my life!

Work Christmas Party

He's not happy that his 18 year old car is dead but we are!
Cracked headgasket

Peggy, Rach, Melinda, Rachele

the Rachel's For our Christmas party, we went to Fat Fish Blue in Perrysburg, Ohio. It's a comedy club. It was super fun. The bosses car broke down on the way there and we left it at a Speedway Station for the night. Here's some pics of the evening. The four of us went down before the boss to shop at Levis Commons. It was a good thing we did so we could get the boss man back home!

Hudson Tigers STATE CHAMPS!

We did it!!! Er...I mean, THEY DID IT! Those boys won it all!!!! So darn PROUD of them. Best game I've seen in a long time and I can't even watch it again without screaming and I know the outcome. BEST SEASON OF MY LIFE!!! I love my football!This is my Cousin Drew, Me (on my 40th Birthday), Camden McCaskey, and Meiko McDaniel...my favorite players on the whole team!! These kids are amazing on field and off. True Champions in my book for sure!#22 is my Cousin!!! #24 is a wonderful kid and the one above #16 is AMAZING!#54 next to the coach is my new adopted son (I wish)...love that kid! Best heart in the world!

The bottom two pics are NOT MINE...Can't take credit for them.

I'm FORTY!!!

Wahooo!!! I made it to my forties!! And to top it off...I'm 80 pounds lighter!!! AMAZING! I'm so looking forward to this new decade! A totally new me! I did it!

Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Black Friday, and GOOOO HUDSON TIGERS! State Football finalist! I'll be posting WINNERS soon!! GO TIGERS!!!! Stand Tall, Leave a Legacy! I love it, this is our year!

Wedding today

I have a wedding to shoot today. First one in a long time. I'm finding I like the senior pics much better! Not as much pressure, stress. But still enjoy it!

It is Digital Scrapbook Day today and I have no desire to even look at stuff??? What's wrong with me?? Yikes. So not like me. Hmm...

NOVEMBER!

It's november!!! I love this month the best out of the months! Crisp air, Football, Burning leaves, Turkey, Family, Voting, Shopping, Birthday. Seriously...what's NOT to love?!

I've been so busy with my photography that I have not scrapped in a very long time. I'm just waiting to be kicked off my CT's! LOL I've got no Mojo for scrapping it seems right now. Our football team is kicking butt still! We have game #2 of playoffs this Friday at home!! I'm in heaven and even if the big L comes...I'm totally ok with it. I've gotten a chance to know a few of those kids one on one and they are amazing! Of course my ever talented cousin is the main reason I go! Go Drew-der! #22 rocks!

I'm a huge football nut. Love it all at any level. Pop-Warner, HS, College, Pro. I'm good with any kind of football. Of the American kind, I must add. Not Soccer.
Anywho...work is calling my name. I'm wearing my new scrub pants! Size L!!! Wahoo! Go me!

Krystal, Libby, Misty-Felicity

It's a triple dip day!!! Krystal teamed up with Libby (my other boss!) and Misty to produce-Felicity. One amazing kit!! Love it!