Wordless Wednesday

Several of my blog friends do "Wordless Wednesday" on their blogs. I always mean to start doing it, but never remember unless its Saturday or Thursday or some day other than Wednesday :) I needed a few words to explain for this first post, but this officially starts my Wordless Wednesdays!

My dog hates me

Testing out her Christmas outfit. I'm so mean :)

We've been elfed!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

101 in 1001

A looong time ago I posted my 101 in 1001 list on xanga. I got the idea from an amazing photographer, Melissa Jill. Its a list of 101 things I'd like to accomplish in 1001 days. I never check xanga anymore, so I had totally forgotten about it - and actually had completed a few things without even realizing it! I tweaked it a little bit and decided to re-post it here. Hopefully I can keep up with it better this time! (I'll come back and edit it later, I'm trying to find some of the dates for things completed.)

Start Date: February 27, 2008
End Date: (Anyone want to do the math to figure out my end date??)

1. Sponsor a child through ‘All God’s Children’
2. Sign up with ‘Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep’
3. Do a photo session for my parents *Sort-of completed, we need to try again
4. Do a photo session for Blake’s parents
5. Second shoot at a wedding
6. Become a member of PPA *Completed
7. Attend a photography workshop/conference *Completed
8. Take Maggie to a training class
9. Go to the dentist and get up to date with fillings, etc
10. Eat at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse with Blake *Completed
11. Go to 3 states I’ve never been to before
12. Order samples from all the vendors I'm signed up with
13. Finish painting master bathroom *Completed
14. Get wedding photos & book from my wedding photographer *In progress
15. Paint (or hire someone to paint) the living room *Completed 5/7/09
16. Organize & de-clutter craft closet *Completed
17. Make a weekly dinner menu and stick to it *Completed
18. Make a budget and stick to it
19. Put one month of our salaries in savings
20. Pay off all credit cards *In progress
21. Fit back into my wedding dress *Completed 3/14/2008 (Needs to be completed again)
22. Vote *Completed 11/4/08
23. Sing in public
24. Blog once a day for a month (Professional or personal)
25. Twitter *Completed
26. Send 5 friends letters through snail-mail
27. Purchase “L” glass for my camera *I rented a lens, and wasn't as impressed as I thought I would be. This isn't such a high priority on my list anymore.
28. Get 5 stars on Guitar Hero in ‘hard’ mode *Completed
29. Go camping
30. Make & sell something on Etsy
31. Make a snow angel
32. Go to another Red Sox game *Completed Father's Day 2008
33. Go back to Chicago
34. Ride a horse
35. Create an ‘inspiration folder’ for magazine clippings (& throw out huge pile of old magazines)
36. Learn how to sew *Completed!
37. Take a photography class
38. Flatten my tummy
39. Take a road trip and stop along the way at cool places to take photos
40. Enter photos in a print competition *Completed
41. Visit Florida once a year *Completed
42. Get a massage
43. Go to a concert *Completed 4/18/2008 and 4/26/2008
44. Go skiing/snowboarding
45. Go on a picnic
46. Become CPR certified
47. Crochet a blanket
48. Become a member of a church
49. Switch from PC to Mac *Completed 9/2/2008
50. Watch a sunrise
51. Set up a recycling system *Completed 11/20/08
52. Go to a museum
53. Go to a zoo
54. See the penguins at the Tennessee Aquarium
55. Go on an out-of-state weekend getaway with Blake (TN & MI don’t count)
56. Buy a fish-eye lens
57. Organize the garage *Completed
58. Replace flooring in living room
59. Use power tools and don’t get hurt
60. Take Blake to the Strawberry Festival
61. Get headshots taken for the website *Sort of completed
62. Have new pictures taken of Blake & me *Completed 8/30/08
63. Go to Las Vegas
64. Make prints of personal photos on my computer and put into albums
65. Learn to drive stick-shift
66. Tile the kitchen backsplash
67. Learn to speak Spanish
68. Fit into size 8 jeans
69. Get a bigger Wacom tablet
70. Get tested for the Cystic Fibrosis gene
71. Mail in a postcard to Post Secret
72. Get Maggie professionally groomed
73. Cook breakfast on a weekday
74. Get a new cell phone *Completed
75. Get my teeth whitened
76. Grill a steak as good as Poppi
77. Make a homemade pie – crust and all
78. Go fishing
79. Do a ‘Trash the Dress’ photo session
80. Update my address book *Completed 11/22/08
81. Get a potted plant for the front porch and keep it alive for at least 3 months
82. Throw a party
83. Learn sign language
84. Tour Fenway Park
85. Purchase slideshow software *Completed 10/22/08 (Bonus - it was free!)
86. Move out of state
87. Learn how to play the guitar
88. Set up a display of photography in a local shop/boutique *In progress
89. Move into a bigger house
90. Read a classic literature book I haven’t read before
91. Try sushi
92. Finish this list! *Completed 5/1/2008
93. Re-design blog *Completed
94. See a Broadway show
95. Print & frame photos from Boston game *Completed 5/1/08
96. Organize master bedroom closet, dresser, etc. *Completed 4/12/08
97. Learn how to use my crock pot *Completed
98. Go bowling and score 175 or higher
99. Detail my car
100. Organize/re-design kitchen cabinets *Completed
101. Do an anonymous good deed

We're boring!

I've had a realization... It's not that I'm a 'bad blogger,' I just have a really boring life! :) Haha. 

I'm a bad blogger

I always forget that I started this blog... Here is an update just for Christa! :)

We were hoping to have already started travel tech at this point, but obviously that isn't the case. Blake signed up with a traveling company, got the ball rolling a little bit, and now his rep won't call him back. We aren't sure if she's just bad at her job or if that means that there aren't any traveling positions open right now. At this point, we aren't really worried about pushing the issue since its so close to the holidays and it would be a hard time to move. Oh well. 

Since we thought we would be gone by the end of October, I told the mom I nanny for that my last day would be October 16th. So... I am officially unemployed!! (Or retired, according to my Dad.) Either way, I'm loving it! I spent a few days in Michigan, next weekend I'll be going to TN for Lee's homecoming, and my house is much more clean! I was worried about needing to find a new job since we will be here a while longer, but Blake told me he didn't want me to get another job and I didn't argue :)

So, that's all that is going on with us. Blake took the day off on Friday so we have had a great long weekend just hanging around the house. Here are a few pictures from Halloween night. Maggie's first Halloween she was a fire hydrant and last year she was a lobster. This year Blake wouldn't let me get her a whole costume so she just wore a pumpkin t-shirt. 

  

I've been tagged!

Attached or Single? Attached

Best Friend? Sara Q, Ashley

Cake or Pie? Hmm... probably pie. I don't eat much of either.

Day of Choice? Friday... most weeks, I have Friday off so its the start of the weekend! 

Essential Item? My cell phone. I feel lost without it.

Flavor of Ice Cream? Lately, its been Ben & Jerry's Brownie Cheesecake.

Gummy Bears or Worms? I don't eat either, they hurt my teeth

Indulgences? Getting my nails done. I know its silly, but I feel prettier/skinnier/girlier when I have my nails done!

January or July? July, I hate winter

Last Movie I saw in a Theater? I think it was Enchanted, last Thanksgiving! I need to get out more :)

Middle Name? Kathryn

Number of Siblings? 1 sister

Oranges or Apples? Oranges

Phobia or Fear? I have several... spiders, clowns, the dark. I have more but my brain is tired and I can't think of them. 

Quote? "We must be willing to get rid of the life we have planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us." Joseph Campbell

Reason to Smile? Shoes, shopping, finding a bargain, a weekend at home with Blake, Miss Maggie

Season? Fall or Spring

Tag five more: I don't read that many blogs, and the ones I do have already been tagged :) If you are reading this, feel free to pretend that I tagged you!

Unknown Fact About Me? I can't really think of anything, most of you reading this know pretty much all that there is to know about me!

Worst Habit? Texting while I drive! I HAVE to stop doing that!

Xrays or Ultrasounds? X-rays, I hate how much you have to drink before an ultrasound!

Your favorite Food? Italian at the moment

New Glasses

Last week, Blake and I went to the eye doctor to update our prescriptions. I just got contacts, but Blake got some spiffy new Banana Republic glasses! I forced him into the backyard for some pics :)

Craigslist

We have posted ads on Craigslist several times in the past, and have had about 50/50 success. This time, though, we have made $310! We sold almost everything we had in the ad. Not only is the money nice, but we have SO much more room in our garage! Much easier than wasting a whole Saturday on a yard sale! :)

Packing, Day 2

We are almost completely finished packing up the craft closet. We have a HUGE ad posted on Craigslist, and what doesn't get sold will be donated to a Christian school down the road. Here are the pictures I promised... I took them before we finished up today. But first, a before photo:

And now, what a mess! Goodbye organization :( 

The mess even spilled over into the office

The grey box in the photo above is what I am keeping and taking with us when we travel. Blake made this label for me: (I forgot to flip it, sorry!)

We're hoping that this room was the worst, and thats why we started with it. Time will tell!

Shopping and Target and packing, oh my!

Today consisted of:

-Getting home from work at 3am and falling into bed (Not as bad as it sounds... $10/hr to 'watch' sleeping children.)

-Waking up and having blueberry muffins for breakfast (Thanks to my wonderful hubby)

-A Thirty-one gifts party at Stacey's house (I bought the cutest fabric covered 'H' for our bookshelf in the living room!)

-Going to Lexington to take advantage of a sale at Hancock Fabrics and get some stuff to use for photo shoots (I have a session with a 2 month old on Wednesday, can't wait!)

-A trip to my favorite store, TARGET! (Stocked up on plastic totes for packing/storing and got Maggie's Halloween outfit)

-Yummy date night at Olive Garden (Had the Stuffed Chicken Marsala again - fab as usual!)

-Came home and started packing up my craft closet in the office (Way too much paper, ribbon, photo albums, buttons, stickers, note cards, pens, glue, markers, scissors, etc, etc, etc.)

Ok, so I have to elaborate a little more on that last one. I had so much... STUFF. Thats the only word for it. We've packed up what I want to keep and are going to either trash or donate the rest. It is complete chaos in that room right now! I'll try to post some before & after pictures tomorrow. We've only been packing a few hours and I'm already tired of it. Thats probably a bad sign, huh?

Here we go!

After over a year of discussing, planning, un-planning, stressing & praying Blake has finally submitted his application to be a traveling x-ray tech! We are so excited to get started and can't wait to find out where our first assignment will be! Hopefully we will find out in the next few weeks and then the craziness begins. I'm already a little stressed about packing! Any volunteers? :) Its so strange to us how quickly things are moving now, since we have been waiting SO long for it to finally be here. We're hoping this blog will be a way for family and friends to keep track of us (since we will be moving every 8-13 weeks!) and to also make sure the memories are well documented for ourselves. We'd appreciate your prayers because as exciting as it is, its also very scary to have so many unknowns.

And because the photographer in me can't make a blog post without a photo, here are a few of Maggie in her typical spot on the couch. She loves to bury herself in her blanket, but when she gets hot she pokes out her paws and face. Its adorable!