Gorgeous day

This is the kind of day you wish would never end. I can't wait til every week is full of them. :) Hope you're out there enjoying it!

More Pictures!

I forgot to mention yesterday that I finally signed up for my first 6-week course through Showcase. I'll be taking the Digital 101 course with this guy: Ryan Nabulsi. I looked through the bios of all the instructors for this course and I'm really excited about this guy cuz I can relate so much to his background- the abrupt change in career course, etc. so it'll be cool to hear what he has to say in that arena.  Plus he also teaches 102 courses, so I'll be able to have a consistent teacher for the first couple classes while I get used to the camera settings, etc. Then once I hit 103 and expand into specialty courses, I'll have different instructors and have a chance to see some new points of view.

So I'll be sure to include any pics and results of those critiques once I get into that. I don't start til early March.

For now, here are some pics from my Chimpsy class the other week. Our instructor, Ben Rollins, was really cool, laid back. I really enjoyed his style when he showed us some of his work. We met at Front Page News for a while to go over camera settings, etc. (Remember, this was for the point and shoot class I took with Mom. I'm taking another class for my SLR through them later this month.) Then we just roamed around Little Five Points for a while taking shots using the new settings and composition guidelines Ben gave us. I was pretty pleased with a few I was able to get.

Weekend Wrap-up

Hello again happy people- both to those of you still on a happy high after a weekend of love and hearts and candy, and those of you happy it's all over ;P

I would definitely fall into the first category. So anyone that's avoiding Valentine's tales feel free to move on now (though, I promise not to get too gushy. I'm expecting this post will be mostly pictures.)

But yes, I had a wonderful weekend with John. I managed to leave work early on Friday. The plan was for John to leave even earlier and get to the yurts early to check in and get his truck unpacked and everything set up by the time I got there. The traffic god had other plans though, and John didn't get there til about an hour after me. So I checked us in, unloaded my car, got the interior all cozy (turns out everything John was bringing was mostly outdoorsy grilling type stuff anyways) and once John got there we hit up the grocery store and settled in the for night!

It was a weekend of hot dogs and burgers for dinner, scrambled eggs and maple flavored bacon (mmmmmMMMMM) for breakfast. Not too shabby :) Over the course of dinner Friday and Saturday night we watched How to Train Your Dragon. Very cute movie. The main dragon reminded us both very much of our cat Coco. If you've ever met this cat, go watch the movie. It's a bit redic. But anyways, Saturday we took a long walk with our cameras to see what we could see. Then came back for an afternoon nap, followed up with another sunset walk to grab a few more shots. Sunday after packing up we went and played a round (my first ever) of disc golf. I sucked. But by the end I had gotten a little better at throwing my disc underhanded and hoping it rolled farther than if I threw it frisbee style :) (My right upper arm was pretty sore all day Monday as a result. I'm so weak.) After all that we called it quits and headed back to John's place. His sis is spending a week down in Tampa with his parents so he's watching her dog for her. So sweet. So he was there when we got home. Took it easy for the evening- John and I played his game and caught up on our DVR'd shows, respectively, and had one more hamburger each for dinner.

Monday morning I had to get up for work. Blah blah blah. But I got to come back to John's place afterwards, which was nice! I don't think I've left for work in the morning from there and come back after work to his place both on the same day in a loooooooooong time, if ever. I almost felt like I lived there too! I stopped by Publix on my way and grabbed everything I needed for a carpet picnic spread. I must say, I think it turned out pretty well. Even if we had way more food than was necessary for 2 people, it was a nice spread and gave both of us left overs for lunch today. We had Publix chicken fingers (yum!!!!), pinwheel sandwiches, fruit, crackers with cheese and deli meat, shrimp cocktail (that was just for John. I don't like shrimp), and a few hard boiled eggs. For dessert: chocolate covered strawberries and bananas and some banana pudding. And I'm even more excited about the fact that I've stumbled across a dynamite spread for next time I throw a party! It was all served cold and had minimal prep- all I did was make the pinwheel sandwiches, dip the fruit in the chocolate, and set everything else out on plates. But once I laid out a blanket on the floor and let a bunch of candles, I think it turned out pretty nice :) After dinner and conversation, we played a few rounds of Rummy and called it a night. Overall, a pretty good Valentine's Day, if I say so myself. :)

So that's it. That was my weekend. Today after work I went and visited my Aunt Elaine, who had a stroke last weekend while watching the Super Bowl. Thank God (literally- there were a LOT of people praying for her) she is fine now and does not seem to have suffered any permanent damage. She's just taking it easy. So that was nice. They live so close to my new place but that's the first time I've stopped by to see them since I moved in, so I must get better about that. They really are wonderful, good Christian people that anyone would be lucky to have in their lives as mentors and have praying for them.

Now, an easy evening and early to bed perhaps. Until next time, here are some of my fave shots from this weekend :) Enjoy!!!

And lastly, last night's carpet picnic:

Stories and Swimming

Well today's been pretty uneventful at work so far.  I've been seriously considering starting some laser hair removal treatments through American Laser Centers (I got a really good deal through some event I went to with a friend and it's something I've been really wanting to do for a while), so I've been spending some time trying to look through the reviews.  Only the office I was going to go to doesn't seem to have many good reviews online. So now I'm not so sure again. If I end up going through with it, I'll let yall know how it goes.

Watched last night's episode of No Ordinary Family on my lunch break today. It's one of several shows that I'm following now. lol. During the off weeks for my normal shows, when I don't have anything else to catch up on over lunch I start just looking around online at what else looks interesting, then I always end up watching from the beginning, getting all caught up, and next thing you know by the time the seasons are starting back up, I've found myself another show that I'm "following". Here's my current list:
Desperate Housewives
Grey's Anatomy
Private Practice
One Tree Hill
No Ordinary Family
Vampire Diaries
Hellcats
V
The Event
America's Next Top Model (when it's in season)
*I also watched the whole of Ugly Betty
*I have now started watching Cougar Town online, though I'm not quite up to speed yet
I think that's everything. Sad, huh? Assuming I waste an hour on each of those shows (among other one-offs) each week, look how many hours a week I could be doing something productive? Checking off one of those many items you've all seen several times on my "do this more" lists.

I guess we all have our vices though. One of mine is stories. It's why when I'm not watching tv, most of the time I'm reading. Once I start, I just can't stop. I have to know what happens. It sucks when I start a book or a movie and realize very quickly that I don't like the story, cuz even then I can't put it down. I have to see it through to the end! It's why, no offense to whoever I'm hanging out with, if we're watching a movie or a show, if you start talking I'm going to pause and/or rewind when you're done. It's why I refuse to use the bathroom during movies. I hate the idea of missing some part of the story! (That makes me sound really lame when I put it out there like that. Oh well, if I can't be myself here....)

But anyways, yes, that is time that could be well spent doing other things. Baking, painting, taking a walk, taking pictures. I am going to make one baby step though, and thanks to my friend who already got one and loves it, I'm going to get a Gazelle I think. And no, I'm not talking some animal you see while on safari in Africa. I'm talking about that cheesy exercise machine you saw all the infomercials for back in the 90s or whenever it was. I figure if I can keep that down in the basement and whenever I'm watching a movie or tv, rather than sitting on my butt, I can do this instead and at least do a little bit of exercising.

Speaking of which, this is another I'm guilty of being an all or nothing perfectionist in the past. So instead I'm currently following/putting together a bit of a mishmash routine. lol. Besides the Gazelle I hope to get with my next pay check, I've been working out with one of my roommates ocassionally. She wanted to start P90X together. Our schedules don't match up very often though, so so far I've really only worked out with her a handful of times. But as she's doing at my house (as opposed to when I was doing it with my other friend last year and had to drive over to her place and back everyday for it) it'll be fairly simple for me to join her when I'm able to- some mornings, some afternoons.

And lastly, I think I'm going to join a gym. I've been hesitant to do so, as it would be another monthly expense. Especially when I thought I'd be doing P90X every day again. But since that's turning out not to be everyday.... my other roommate had a free pass for a friend to go with her to LA Fitness the other day, so I went swimming with her, and o...m...g! So much fun! It was so relaxing to get in the water and just do my own thing for 40 minutes. And it's go so many other advantages! First off, swimming is just great exercise in general. It's also high resistance due to the water, but at the same time less of an impact when it comes to things like shin splints and stuff. It also has the added benefit that I don't get all hot and sweaty and yucky. Do I shower afterwards, yes- but to get rid of the chlorine. Not because I feel gross. And I'm not wanting to quit after a few minutes cuz I'm just so dang hot and uncomfortable! So just that alone was enough to convince me join. But besides access to an indoor lap pool, I'll also be able to take classes (I've been thinking about a bike/spinning class) AND John is a member of LA Fitness, so we can have work out dates! How dorky but fun does that sound? I think that all of that warrants enough reasons to justify the $30 or so a month, right? (Plus, I think Emory employees get a discount.)

So that's my hodge-podge workout regimen. It's better than nothing.

Tonight I'm off to hang out with Sunny after work. I've decided to take her out to dinner on Wednesdays when I watch her to make it seem more like real sister hang out time as opposed to babysitting. I thought maybe she'd feel kind of cool if instead of sitting at home at the kitchen table reviewing her homework over a plate of Hamburger Helper, we got dinner out then headed over to Starbucks for some hot chocolate and studied there instead.


PS- Davey- if you happen to read this, don't forget to wish Dad a happy birthday today!!!! :)

Another Catch Up

Ok. Thank you to my friends that have encouraged me to start this up again- Elizabeth and Sarah. It's already 10:15 and I don't want to be up too late tonight since I'm getting up in the morning to work out with my roommate, but if I'm going to get back into this, I might as well start now. So I'm going to (once again) do a quick life update. (That seems to be a trend here, huh? Several months off, one long update, a few regular posts, then I'm gone again. Oh well.) Maybe if I keep each update short it will motivate me to come back and elaborate (that word is sounding really funny to me right now, but I think it's right. lol) on them later. E helped me tonight to realize I'm a perfectionist blogger. Unless I know I have time to sit down and write out everything I want to write, I don't. And then my time away gets longer, and I have more to write about, and since we all know each post ends up about 2 1/2 times longer than I meant it in the first place, this quickly becomes an exponential problem. So I'm going to try to break that habit. We'll see. If you'll leave a quick comment and say hi when you stop by so I know my posts aren't just floating around the net unread and uncared about, it might help :) Just sayin'...

Ok, so, let's see.

First off, yes, you read right. I now have a roommate. 2, in fact. Moved into a new place with 2 girls from my small group in October and have been here since. No, I'm still not fully unpacked. It's more space overall, but I have to share it with 2 other girls who also have full kitchens and lots of bathroom stuff, etc, so my room is still a disaster.

Sad news: Gus passed away :( I still cry about it if I think about it for too long, so I'm not going to write much here. But I'll just say he had a good last day- spent in front of the fire at John's and he was buried with love behind John's shed. We've picked out a stone and are going to paint it to mark the place. This year's Christmas ornament was in honor of him.

I'm still continuing to consider/pursue photography. My wonderful parents got me a DSLR for Christmas and I've already taken one 1-day class for it. I took a (point and shoot) photography class through Chimpsy with Mom this past weekend, and I've signed up for an SLR class through the same company. And I'll be signing up for my first 6 week class through Showcase soon.  I'm still trying to figure out the logistics of time/money/which school, etc. I had a very good, looooong talk with mom over lunch after our class this weekend and talked about that, among other important things, and I was very happy to hear that, should I decide to just go for it, rather than saving up or trying to go part time, she understands and perhaps even agrees. As smart as being careful and financially responsible is most of the time, and as much as one of the "signs" that something might not be a calling from God includes anything that puts you in a financially difficult position, sometimes all you can do is jump. And I'm starting to think more and more that's what it's going to come to here. We'll see....

John was up in Nashville last weekend recording on Corey Crowder's first Sony album. That's right, my boyfriend was deemed good enough by Sony for them to use him instead of using their own studio drummer to do the actual recording for the album. I'm so proud of him and excited about what possible doors this could open for him. He's already mentioned in passing being open to the idea of moving to Nashville. I'll have to talk to him more about this at a later date sometime. Hmm..... :) In the meantime, rest assured that I will DEFINITELY keeping everyone updated on any shows or release dates for the album!!!!

Still working towards a closer relationship with God. In baby steps. I think I'm a perfectionist Christian too, sad as that sounds. If I can't get in my God time how I think I should every day, I just stop. I need to get better about this. I need to get better about making this the top priority on my "get better at these things" list.

Hoping to spend some more regular time with my sister, Sunny. She's 12, almost 13, and I think she could use a sister that shows an interest in her life at times besides when she's needed for babysitting, and who acts more like a sister than a surrogate parent.

A close friend of mine moved back into town from Miami, and I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited about this!!!!! (Despite the fact that I haven't seen her in the week and a half since she moved back to town except for her first night. Must get better about that too.)

John and I are heading back to the yurts at Fort Yargo for Valentine's weekend. I might possibly rent a macro lens for the weekend, as that's my major area of interest in photography. Hopefully I'll have some cool pics to post next week.

I'm thinking, I'm thinking.... I think those are the biggest areas in my life that need updating. I guess technically, as it's been more than a year since I started this blog (despite the TOTAL lack of a full year's worth of posts) I should change the name of it. But I'm not going to. Now, anyways. Maybe later. Any suggestions on what it should be?