Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Unexpected.
So I got a job. Sunday night I glanced at a job website and found an opening for a photographer at a children's photography studio. So on Monday morning I called and left a message letting them know I was interested. The manager called that evening and I went in for an interview. They liked me, and I got hired! So now I'm in training. I've learned a lot. I'm really excited because learning all of this is really going to help my skills as a photographer. But one of the things that I like best about this job is that it's only a seasonal job (everybody wants Easter portraits), so once Easter is over, then I'm done. I love that. So I'll be working there long enough to gain some knowledge, and once Easter is over, I walk away with a lot more photography knowledge. It's pretty awesome. It's like taking a class and getting paid to take it. There are a couple of downsides to this job...it's in the mall. I know you guys are probably like, "The mall? What's the big deal?" Do you have any idea how difficult it is to work in a mall and NOT spend money??? It is. Let me tell you. I am seriously going to have to work on my self control when it comes to spending my money at the mall...I'm really good at that (spending money, that is). The other downside is that I will probably have to work some late nights, which will be hard especially since Joel and I spend our evenings together. But it's only for about a month so I guess it'll be fine. Yay for fun jobs!!
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Superlative Moments.
Most Embarrassing Moment:
When I was in the seventh grade I weighed probably about 80 pounds and I had a huge, expandable Colorado brand backpack. On this particular day, my backpack was filled to the max. My mom dropped me off at school, and I was walking up the steps. I tripped on the steps, and my gigantic backpack threw me off balance and I had a terrific spill on the steps. As I was getting up, three ninth graders walked past me. One of them, a guy, pointed at the steps and said to me, "Stairs. You walk up them." And walked away. I wanted to die.
Most Amusing Moment:
One time in church during the part where you greet everyone, a toddler ran past me. As she ran past me, her shoe came off. I picked it up and proceeded to toss it the mother about 15 feet from me. I have terrible aim. I totally missed. Instead I hit a grandma on her shoulder. I managed to throw a shoe at an old lady during church!!! She looked at me in total surprise. I apologized and laughed hysterically. After that incident, we became good friends.
Most Excited Moment:
I should say that my wedding was my most exciting moment, but I was so stressed at the time (weddings are stressful) that I hardly was able to enjoy the moment. Plus it all went so fast. So I'm going to say that my most exciting moment was finally getting accepted to be a photographer for iStockphoto.com and then selling my first picture. I doubted myself and my abilities because I have not had any formal training. But photography had been a secret desire of mine for years. So to finally find a small amount of success was a huge thing for me.
Most Traumatic Moment:
I know CPR. Last summer there was a motorcycle accident on the highway in front of my house. A truck hit a motorcycle head on. The man on the motorcycle was dragged for about a hundred yards or so. He lost his leg. Like...the leg was just gone. It ground off as he was dragged down the road. His bone was showing. Joel and I heard the accident from our house. We went to help. There wasn't too much I could do to help. I stayed and talked to the man until the EMT came. That was the goriest scene I've ever seen in my life. The good news is that the man lived, and now has a prosthetic leg. If you want the whole story you can check my blogs from June or July 2007.
Proudest Moment:
Graduating from college. Because of my insecurities at the time, getting a degree in music was something I had a difficult time doing. People questioned my abilities. People doubted me. But I did what seemed to be the impossible. Finishing school was a major accomplishment. And it was such a good feeling to finally not have homework anymore!!
Saddest Moment:
This time last year, we lost our first dog Sachi. I was so sad. My heart ached so much. I cried continuously for almost three days straight. We did everything we could to find her. We put up fliers all over town. I called every single rancher in the area to see if they had seen my dog. We went online to missing dog websites and reported her missing. Everybody in the whole entire town knew she was missing. About a month or two later our landlords found her caught in a poacher's jaw traps. She died there. The sheriff, and the game warden were called. There was a report filed. We took Sachi home and buried her.
Most Awkward Moment:
Joel and I had been dating for a month of two. We were eating ice cream in one of those restaurant/gas stations and he told me that he liked me. I felt my face turn red. I was caught off guard. Then I shyly told him that I liked him too...we both giggled for a while because we both felt so awkward and didn't know what to do. Yeah, that was weird. I'm glad we're past that stage in our relationship.
Most Frightened Moment:
The first time I saw a centipede. We had only been married about 4 months. As I was walking out the door, I heard a hissing noise next to me. I looked the wall next to me and saw a huge 10 inch centipede. Black with yellow legs. It reared up and hissed at me. Like a cobra snake. I panicked and called Joel at work. He didn't answer. The I called my father-in-law. He told me to step on it. (Yeah, right) Finally I grabbed one of Joel's steel toe boots and started smashing it until it was nothing but a green pile of mush. (I wanted to make sure it was dead). Then I went next door and found my landlord and told him what happened. He was so sympathetic. He sent one of his sons over to pick it up and throw it away for me. Ha ha.
Feel free to share a superlative moment or two of yours if you feel inclined to do so.
When I was in the seventh grade I weighed probably about 80 pounds and I had a huge, expandable Colorado brand backpack. On this particular day, my backpack was filled to the max. My mom dropped me off at school, and I was walking up the steps. I tripped on the steps, and my gigantic backpack threw me off balance and I had a terrific spill on the steps. As I was getting up, three ninth graders walked past me. One of them, a guy, pointed at the steps and said to me, "Stairs. You walk up them." And walked away. I wanted to die.
Most Amusing Moment:
One time in church during the part where you greet everyone, a toddler ran past me. As she ran past me, her shoe came off. I picked it up and proceeded to toss it the mother about 15 feet from me. I have terrible aim. I totally missed. Instead I hit a grandma on her shoulder. I managed to throw a shoe at an old lady during church!!! She looked at me in total surprise. I apologized and laughed hysterically. After that incident, we became good friends.
Most Excited Moment:
I should say that my wedding was my most exciting moment, but I was so stressed at the time (weddings are stressful) that I hardly was able to enjoy the moment. Plus it all went so fast. So I'm going to say that my most exciting moment was finally getting accepted to be a photographer for iStockphoto.com and then selling my first picture. I doubted myself and my abilities because I have not had any formal training. But photography had been a secret desire of mine for years. So to finally find a small amount of success was a huge thing for me.
Most Traumatic Moment:
I know CPR. Last summer there was a motorcycle accident on the highway in front of my house. A truck hit a motorcycle head on. The man on the motorcycle was dragged for about a hundred yards or so. He lost his leg. Like...the leg was just gone. It ground off as he was dragged down the road. His bone was showing. Joel and I heard the accident from our house. We went to help. There wasn't too much I could do to help. I stayed and talked to the man until the EMT came. That was the goriest scene I've ever seen in my life. The good news is that the man lived, and now has a prosthetic leg. If you want the whole story you can check my blogs from June or July 2007.
Proudest Moment:
Graduating from college. Because of my insecurities at the time, getting a degree in music was something I had a difficult time doing. People questioned my abilities. People doubted me. But I did what seemed to be the impossible. Finishing school was a major accomplishment. And it was such a good feeling to finally not have homework anymore!!
Saddest Moment:
This time last year, we lost our first dog Sachi. I was so sad. My heart ached so much. I cried continuously for almost three days straight. We did everything we could to find her. We put up fliers all over town. I called every single rancher in the area to see if they had seen my dog. We went online to missing dog websites and reported her missing. Everybody in the whole entire town knew she was missing. About a month or two later our landlords found her caught in a poacher's jaw traps. She died there. The sheriff, and the game warden were called. There was a report filed. We took Sachi home and buried her.
Most Awkward Moment:
Joel and I had been dating for a month of two. We were eating ice cream in one of those restaurant/gas stations and he told me that he liked me. I felt my face turn red. I was caught off guard. Then I shyly told him that I liked him too...we both giggled for a while because we both felt so awkward and didn't know what to do. Yeah, that was weird. I'm glad we're past that stage in our relationship.
Most Frightened Moment:
The first time I saw a centipede. We had only been married about 4 months. As I was walking out the door, I heard a hissing noise next to me. I looked the wall next to me and saw a huge 10 inch centipede. Black with yellow legs. It reared up and hissed at me. Like a cobra snake. I panicked and called Joel at work. He didn't answer. The I called my father-in-law. He told me to step on it. (Yeah, right) Finally I grabbed one of Joel's steel toe boots and started smashing it until it was nothing but a green pile of mush. (I wanted to make sure it was dead). Then I went next door and found my landlord and told him what happened. He was so sympathetic. He sent one of his sons over to pick it up and throw it away for me. Ha ha.
Feel free to share a superlative moment or two of yours if you feel inclined to do so.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
V-Day
I have a good man. I do. I meant to write about this....oh....last week. Things are different in the new house. Our computer is no longer in the living room with us, which in turn takes more effort to walk to the office and sit down at the computer. This is why my blogging has been less frequent these days. Anyway, back to my good man. So this year for the days leading up to Valentine's, Joel and I were sick, and because of this, we forgot to plan something for Valentine's Day until that actual day.
On that day after Joel had left for work, I decided I wanted to do something wildly romantic for our evening at home.... So I sat on the computer for several hours (I have no idea why it took so long) and searched for love songs online. I found them. I listened to them. I downloaded them. And then I tried to burn them on a CD. And failed. More than half of the songs I had compiled were not in the right format. (long and boring technical details I won't go into). I was disappointed. I spent hours working on my romantic CD and had nothing to show for it.
I also wanted to make amazing steaks. So I searched online for a recipe. I found one - T bone steaks with an Asian flare. Joel loves Asian food. The steaks needed to marinate for about 4 hours. I still had time. I had all the ingredients except the steaks. I drove to the butcher's - $10.98 per lb...hmmm....I remember seeing in the flyer in the mail that Albertson's has them on sale $6.99 per lb. A much better deal. I drive to Albertson's, find my steaks, pick up a cheese cake, a salad, and on my way out, I find the ingredients for chocolate covered strawberries. Chocolate covered strawberries would be way more fun. I buy the cheese cake too. So run one more errand, stand in line, and go home to get started on the meal...but wait...what happened to all my time I had? I guess our steaks will be ready later. I start on the marinade only to realize that I'm out of one irreplaceable ingredient...soy sauce...Ahhhh! So then I run to Walmart, grab the soy sauce, stand in the express line and wait and wait and wait, while the woman in front of my tries to use a card over and over that will not work? Can you just use another card??? PLEASE!!! Eventually she does.
By this time, I am so out of time. By the time I get home, and get the steaks to marinate, they won't be ready until almost 9 PM. Joel comes home from work. I had envisioned having the house lit with candles, romantic music playing, and I would be dressed in an amazing outfit, while dinner would be nearly ready. None of that happened. I was disappointed. Joel hands me a box of chocolate (which is a required present for every Valentines Day...required by me.) He helps me figure out why my romantic music CD didn't burn. He helps me finish dinner. Eventually we cook dinner together. Steak, baked potatoes, salad, and the chocolate covered strawberries. It was good. Joel announces that he is full...but then hesitates..."Well, maybe I want some cheesecake." (I put the cheesecake that I bought earlier in the freezer) "You should get it for me....I want to look at it." I give him a weird look, and get up to get the cheesecake from the freezer. I open the freezer, and on top of the cheesecake is a small, white box. "What is this?" and I pulled the box out. Joel says, "I don't know. What is it?" I open it up. Inside is a white gold necklace with a twisty pendant with small diamonds on it. It was beautiful. I was surprised. I loved it. Joel is not the planning type, so for him to plan a surprise, takes a lot of effort. I couldn't believe he actually surprised me with jewelry. It was fun. So this year, V-day started out rocky for me, as all my plans fell apart, but ended quite well. And I would just like you guys to know, that I have a good man.
And by the way, it's not very often that I write such a sappy blog, but since it was Valentine's I made and exception. (just this once)
On that day after Joel had left for work, I decided I wanted to do something wildly romantic for our evening at home.... So I sat on the computer for several hours (I have no idea why it took so long) and searched for love songs online. I found them. I listened to them. I downloaded them. And then I tried to burn them on a CD. And failed. More than half of the songs I had compiled were not in the right format. (long and boring technical details I won't go into). I was disappointed. I spent hours working on my romantic CD and had nothing to show for it.
I also wanted to make amazing steaks. So I searched online for a recipe. I found one - T bone steaks with an Asian flare. Joel loves Asian food. The steaks needed to marinate for about 4 hours. I still had time. I had all the ingredients except the steaks. I drove to the butcher's - $10.98 per lb...hmmm....I remember seeing in the flyer in the mail that Albertson's has them on sale $6.99 per lb. A much better deal. I drive to Albertson's, find my steaks, pick up a cheese cake, a salad, and on my way out, I find the ingredients for chocolate covered strawberries. Chocolate covered strawberries would be way more fun. I buy the cheese cake too. So run one more errand, stand in line, and go home to get started on the meal...but wait...what happened to all my time I had? I guess our steaks will be ready later. I start on the marinade only to realize that I'm out of one irreplaceable ingredient...soy sauce...Ahhhh! So then I run to Walmart, grab the soy sauce, stand in the express line and wait and wait and wait, while the woman in front of my tries to use a card over and over that will not work? Can you just use another card??? PLEASE!!! Eventually she does.
By this time, I am so out of time. By the time I get home, and get the steaks to marinate, they won't be ready until almost 9 PM. Joel comes home from work. I had envisioned having the house lit with candles, romantic music playing, and I would be dressed in an amazing outfit, while dinner would be nearly ready. None of that happened. I was disappointed. Joel hands me a box of chocolate (which is a required present for every Valentines Day...required by me.) He helps me figure out why my romantic music CD didn't burn. He helps me finish dinner. Eventually we cook dinner together. Steak, baked potatoes, salad, and the chocolate covered strawberries. It was good. Joel announces that he is full...but then hesitates..."Well, maybe I want some cheesecake." (I put the cheesecake that I bought earlier in the freezer) "You should get it for me....I want to look at it." I give him a weird look, and get up to get the cheesecake from the freezer. I open the freezer, and on top of the cheesecake is a small, white box. "What is this?" and I pulled the box out. Joel says, "I don't know. What is it?" I open it up. Inside is a white gold necklace with a twisty pendant with small diamonds on it. It was beautiful. I was surprised. I loved it. Joel is not the planning type, so for him to plan a surprise, takes a lot of effort. I couldn't believe he actually surprised me with jewelry. It was fun. So this year, V-day started out rocky for me, as all my plans fell apart, but ended quite well. And I would just like you guys to know, that I have a good man.
And by the way, it's not very often that I write such a sappy blog, but since it was Valentine's I made and exception. (just this once)
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
It's like a giant commerical...
Currently I am reading:
Sacred Influence - What a man needs from his wife to be the husband she wants by Gary L. Thomas. My mom gave me this book for Christmas. I like it. I'm about a third through the book. So far, I've found it very insightful and I highly reccomend it to any married woman reguardless of your situation in your marriage.
The Photographer's Eye - Composition and Design for better Digital Photos by Micheal Freeman. I've been working on this book for about 6 months. I think it's better to read this book slowly, in order to absorb and put the concepts into practice...but I think 6 months is going a little long....
Rich Woman - A book on investing for women by Kim Kiyosaki. Yes. Joel has been getting on my case to read this book for about a year and a half. He has big financial investment plans for our future...and although the thought of investing bores me to tears, I still think this is good for me to know...
The Self Compass - Charting Your Personality in Christ by Dr. Dan & Kate Montgomery. Our pastor recomended that Joel and I read through this book together.
So that's four books I'm currently in the middle of. Somehow I've got to find more time to finish all of these books. I really try not to read so many at once...
Last weekend Joel and I went to a marriage conference called Marriage Tune Up II. Let me tell you, this conference was so good. We really enjoyed it. If you have an opportunity to go to this conference, you should take it. It's so good. Not only did they talk about the issues you deal with marriage in a humorous way, but they also provided a lot of insight. It was really good. The conference really taught us how to work through our issues better, it reaffirmed the fact that Joel and I have a really good relationship (which we always thought we have, even though others told us we didn't, but that just proves that they don't know us as much as they thought they did), and also helped us to recognize destructive patterns in personality types so we can avoid them in our own marriage.
Now to change the subject completely. A couple of days ago, as Joel and were backing out of our driveway, we noticed that the gate to the backyard was wide open, which is where Brody spends most of his time. So I got out of the car and went to close the gate. Brody ran up to the gate, but didn't go outside of the backyard. The gate had been open for several hours, and Brody knew it, and still didn't run out of the backyard. What a good dog! The wierd thing is that, how did the gate come open in the first place? We haven't used that gate in a week....and I double checked to make sure it was closed. Makes me a little nervous to think about.
Yesterday we took Brody to a dog park nearby. It was really fun. And Brody had a great time. I like living out here with all kinds of interesting things like dog parks, and Starbucks, and walking paths all over the city. It's great.
Sacred Influence - What a man needs from his wife to be the husband she wants by Gary L. Thomas. My mom gave me this book for Christmas. I like it. I'm about a third through the book. So far, I've found it very insightful and I highly reccomend it to any married woman reguardless of your situation in your marriage.
The Photographer's Eye - Composition and Design for better Digital Photos by Micheal Freeman. I've been working on this book for about 6 months. I think it's better to read this book slowly, in order to absorb and put the concepts into practice...but I think 6 months is going a little long....
Rich Woman - A book on investing for women by Kim Kiyosaki. Yes. Joel has been getting on my case to read this book for about a year and a half. He has big financial investment plans for our future...and although the thought of investing bores me to tears, I still think this is good for me to know...
The Self Compass - Charting Your Personality in Christ by Dr. Dan & Kate Montgomery. Our pastor recomended that Joel and I read through this book together.
So that's four books I'm currently in the middle of. Somehow I've got to find more time to finish all of these books. I really try not to read so many at once...
Last weekend Joel and I went to a marriage conference called Marriage Tune Up II. Let me tell you, this conference was so good. We really enjoyed it. If you have an opportunity to go to this conference, you should take it. It's so good. Not only did they talk about the issues you deal with marriage in a humorous way, but they also provided a lot of insight. It was really good. The conference really taught us how to work through our issues better, it reaffirmed the fact that Joel and I have a really good relationship (which we always thought we have, even though others told us we didn't, but that just proves that they don't know us as much as they thought they did), and also helped us to recognize destructive patterns in personality types so we can avoid them in our own marriage.
Now to change the subject completely. A couple of days ago, as Joel and were backing out of our driveway, we noticed that the gate to the backyard was wide open, which is where Brody spends most of his time. So I got out of the car and went to close the gate. Brody ran up to the gate, but didn't go outside of the backyard. The gate had been open for several hours, and Brody knew it, and still didn't run out of the backyard. What a good dog! The wierd thing is that, how did the gate come open in the first place? We haven't used that gate in a week....and I double checked to make sure it was closed. Makes me a little nervous to think about.
Yesterday we took Brody to a dog park nearby. It was really fun. And Brody had a great time. I like living out here with all kinds of interesting things like dog parks, and Starbucks, and walking paths all over the city. It's great.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Today is the day of the Superbowl. Now, I am not a big fan of the Superbowl, but I am a big fan of Superbowl parties. I was planning on having one at my house. Not anymore. Joel and I are sick...along with half of the rest of the state. It was said on the news, that this virus (or whatever it is) has been state wide. I've been told that one school considering closing due to over 50 kids were absent from school...to prevent it spreading. Joel didn't go camping in the snow with the men this weekend because he was sick. A decent portion of the other men didn't either because they were sick as well. Most of the worship team and the sound people are also sick this weekend. They actually had two people from the worship team lead the music at church today. Everyone else was sick. Seriously!! Joel and I didn't go to church today either. I'm starting to feel better, but this whole sickness thing has been such and epidemic, we decided it would probably be best if we didn't contaminate the rest of the people from our church who weren't sick. I'm disappointed. I like our church. I like going. Oh well. And I guess we are not having a party at my house today either. Boo.
Let me tell about our recent discovery! Joel and I found a movie rental machine at Walmart called the Red Box. It's cool. It works like a vending machine. You swipe your card, and select a movie. The best part is that it only costs $1 a night!! So if you return in within 24 hours, you only pay $1!!! How cool is that? Way cheaper than Blockbuster or Netflicks. You guys should really check these out.
I've been asked to talk about our current church. I realized that I haven't mentioned too many details about it. So here's the deal. Back in October, Joel and I knew we would be moving at the end of December, but we weren't sure where we were supposed to go. We sat down together a couple months previously and made a mental list of characteristics of the type of church we were looking to be involved with. While working at a youth convention, we met the pastor of a church plant called, Life Fellowship Church.When the pastor found out that we were planning to move, but didn't know where, he began to recruit us to his church. Over the next several days we had lunch with his family, he discussed his vision and plan of execution for the church, we went to a worship rehearsal, and finally visited his church on Sunday morning. After that weekend, it was quite evident that this was the place that the Lord wanted us to be...and the cool thing was that that church, LFC, matched the list of characteristics that we made a mental list of a couple of months before we met the pastor of this church.
So our church, LFC, is a church plant. It was started in August of 2006. It has casual laid back cafe type atmosphere. We sit around tables instead of in pews. There's coffee and snacks in the back. We have a church service with worship time and a message. We just give it a different feel. We don't have a building yet, so we meet in the local Boys and Girls club building. We have to set up and tear down our equipment each week. tables, chairs, sound equipment, instruments, etc. We even have a portable nursery. We store all of our equipment in a semi-portable storage unit. I think it's called a POD. Our church is unique. It has a different feel. It's not your average church. I like it. It's what I've been searching for. It's the place that Joel and I have been looking for to belong to. We believe in the vision. We believe in where this church is going. It's so neat to see how God places desires in your heart before you even find the place where these desires fit in.
Let me tell about our recent discovery! Joel and I found a movie rental machine at Walmart called the Red Box. It's cool. It works like a vending machine. You swipe your card, and select a movie. The best part is that it only costs $1 a night!! So if you return in within 24 hours, you only pay $1!!! How cool is that? Way cheaper than Blockbuster or Netflicks. You guys should really check these out.
I've been asked to talk about our current church. I realized that I haven't mentioned too many details about it. So here's the deal. Back in October, Joel and I knew we would be moving at the end of December, but we weren't sure where we were supposed to go. We sat down together a couple months previously and made a mental list of characteristics of the type of church we were looking to be involved with. While working at a youth convention, we met the pastor of a church plant called, Life Fellowship Church.When the pastor found out that we were planning to move, but didn't know where, he began to recruit us to his church. Over the next several days we had lunch with his family, he discussed his vision and plan of execution for the church, we went to a worship rehearsal, and finally visited his church on Sunday morning. After that weekend, it was quite evident that this was the place that the Lord wanted us to be...and the cool thing was that that church, LFC, matched the list of characteristics that we made a mental list of a couple of months before we met the pastor of this church.
So our church, LFC, is a church plant. It was started in August of 2006. It has casual laid back cafe type atmosphere. We sit around tables instead of in pews. There's coffee and snacks in the back. We have a church service with worship time and a message. We just give it a different feel. We don't have a building yet, so we meet in the local Boys and Girls club building. We have to set up and tear down our equipment each week. tables, chairs, sound equipment, instruments, etc. We even have a portable nursery. We store all of our equipment in a semi-portable storage unit. I think it's called a POD. Our church is unique. It has a different feel. It's not your average church. I like it. It's what I've been searching for. It's the place that Joel and I have been looking for to belong to. We believe in the vision. We believe in where this church is going. It's so neat to see how God places desires in your heart before you even find the place where these desires fit in.
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