Day 214: Happy New Year!

Kim, rockin' out to the New Year!

I just want to start off this post by saying how glad I am that Kim came over last night!  It's just not a party without Kimmy there to help get everyone pumped!  Also, I'm psyched that she came because I finally got a picture of her for my 3-6-5 project!  Sure, most of her face is covered, but at least it's my *sister* Kimmy!  The one who got me into photography in the first place!  Love you, Soph!

Okay, so on with the description.  Last night we had our traditional New Year's Eve party: movie marathon, friends, and lots of food.  It was so fun to just have a chill evening with friends, hanging out, eating good food, and watching corny movies.

We started the movie marathon with Inception, which was really fun, but it took us a while to finish because it's long, and we kept pausing it to get food and talk about the movie.  That was a good time, but not as fun as the second movie, The Transporter!  By the time we started that movie it was less than an hour to midnight, so we were pretty slap happy.  It made for a very enjoyable watch as we all made fun of the corny soundtrack and unbelievable fight moves.  Then when it was time to bring in the new year, we stopped the movie and got out our noise makers and cameras (translation: I got out my camera).

It was so fun goofing off and doing silly poses for the camera!  Sometimes I forget how fun it is to be a total nerd with my friends until I get a chance to do it!

Good times everyone!  Now go out there and live your dream this year!

Day 213: New Year's Tree

A tree in Orem

Happy New Year everyone!  This will be my last post in 2010, and I'm excited to get moving on 2011!  Hopefully it will be a year of awesome experiences!

I was out running errands with my mom and sister today when I saw this tree at a stop light.  I thought it looked remarkably well for the dead of winter in Utah, so I took a picture of it.  I know I should have put up a picture from our New Year's party tonight, but I've decided to save my favorite shot of the evening for tomorrow's blog post, since I took it after midnight.  :)

Day 208: Sunday Puzzles

A jig-saw puzzle

I gave Mom a card table for Christmas.  It's something she's been asking for the last few years.  So today after church, she set it up and started a jig-saw puzzle on it.  It was fun to sit together in quiet and work on the puzzle.  Especially after the hectic day at church, and the loud (but very fun) Christmas.

Remember how I mentioned getting a cold a few days ago?  Well it's here to stay and so annoying!  I couldn't sing at all today, which was a problem since I had to lead the children in Primary.  Oh well, I guess.  At least I won't have to miss any work because of it since I have this next week off.

Day 207: Merry Christmas Day!

Dad/Santa

This is my favorite reaction of the day!  This is Dad's face after he opened his Christmas present from Dave (an iPod Nano).  I didn't catch the initial reaction he had which can only be described as a mixture of disbelief and chastisement.

It was so funny!

He asked for an iPod for Christmas a while back, but promptly took it off his list because he thought it was too expensive.  So when he saw that Dave got him one anyway, he was shocked and a little worried that Dave paid too much.  This is the face he made after he found out that Dave didn't spend anything on it because he won it at work. Ha!

I hope you all had a great holiday!  I'm sorry for being so remiss in my blog posts.

Day 206: Christmas Eve Party

Becca

Merry Christmas Eve everyone!  I had a great night with the family tonight.  We went over to my sister Sherry's house for Christmas Eve dinner, and it was great to have some time with the family.  Usually when we get together, we fill to bursting whatever house we are in, but since half the family is out of town for Christmas this year, we had a comparatively small party.  It was nice to hang out and open a few early presents.

It was especially nice because I'm out of time on the present issue, so now I just have to let go the stress and enjoy myself.  Usually that's easier said than done, but I'm feeling pretty good right now. :)

Day 205: Fake Flowers

My mom's plastic poinsettia.

Such a hectic day!  Today was the last day before my office shuts down until the new year, and I was scrambling to get everything done in time!  And now that I'm home and able to put work stress out of my mind, I'm freaking out at all the stuff I haven't done yet for Christmas!  How am I going to fit everything in before Saturday!?

Aaack!

Day 204: Colorful Darkness

Our front windows.

I'm so sorry for such a long absence.  I've been so stressed out trying to get everything finalized at work, and get all the presents ready for Christmas, that I've actually gone and made myself sick again.  This time it feels like the beginnings of a head cold, but still...quite possibly the worst timing ever.

So the next few posts will probably be short, since I don't have a lot of time.  But then again, by the time I get around to posting these, I'll probably have time to add a few lines.

We'll see.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Day 203: Snow Cap

Me.

It snowed last night.  Boy did it snow.  And it was wet snow all day today (mixed with rain).

When I saw how bad it was outside, I armed myself with my new scarf/hood.  It's very convenient for days like this, when it's cold and wet, and I actually did my hair.  When I got home from work, I decided to take a picture of my new favorite accessory because I haven't done a self-portrait in a while.  

The thing is...this picture makes me look like Lara from "Doctor Zhivago."

I promise I'm not from revolutionary Russia.

Day 202: White-board Christmas

A Christmas Tree I drew on the white-board at work.

No, this is not a home made greeting card from a first grader.  Unfortunately, I drew this Christmas tree for my office potluck today.  I was so impressed at the immaturity of it, that I had to take a picture.  Once I saw the picture, I realized it would need a lot of help to make it look not so bad...so that's why there are lights and stars all over the place.

My favorite part on this tree?  The lone blue ornament hanging from one of the branches.  I didn't think to make any of the other ornaments hang from the branches like that.  Just the blue one.  It's like something you'd see on a Charlie Brown Christmas tree.

Day 201: The Santa Connection

My mom's Santa collection.

Another Sunday gone, with little to show for it.  Except for the awesome scarfs I finished.  But I couldn't take a picture of those and ruin the surprise for the people to whom I'm giving them.  I'm just glad I actually accomplished something for Christmas.  Yesterday's shopping trip was a bit of a bust, so this makes me feel a little better. 

Now if only I can not get overwhelmed by everything else I haven't done yet...

Day 200: Rain, Shopping, and Work (Updated)

Day 200:  Rain, Shopping, and Work

Rain on my windshield.

So I had to work almost all day today, and when I finished working I had to run and do some long overdue Christmas shopping.  Unfortunately, I forgot my wallet at home.  So after an embarrassing scene at the checkstand, I had to wait for my very nice sister to drive my wallet from Orem to American Fork.  That's when I took this picture, while I waited in my car to avoid the uncomfortable looks from the checkers at Target.

****UPDATE****
This was originally posted as four days in one, but I didn't like the look, and so broke them out into individual posts.  Sorry for the confusion.

Day 194: Strawberry Shortcake

Esther.

I love my nieces and nephews!  RoseAnne and her family came over for dinner tonight, and it was so fun to hang out!  I was being a bit of a recluse for most of the evening because I was feeling a bit overwhelmed, but I did hang out a little bit, and I got to hang out with the kids downstairs.  Because we won't see RoseAnne or her family before Christmas, we exchanged gifts tonight (I wish I had realized this, because I'm not finished making my gifts yet).

RoseAnne gave me these awesome homemade soaps, and mom gave the family a card game.  Mom also gave each child a coloring book and it was so fun to see their reactions!  RoseMarie was my favorite.  She kept hugging her book of Minnie Mouse coloring pages and saying, "Ohhhh!  I love her!"  She thanked mom at least twice for her Christmas presents.  It was adorable!

Hyrum and Esther loved their coloring books too...especially the stickers in the coloring books.  Esther's coloring book was of Strawberry Shortcake, and RoseAnne told Esther it was a coloring book just for her since she was Strawberry Shortcake.  The second RoseAnne said this I realized just how much like Strawberry Shortcake Esther actually is.  She's got the hair and the cute personality to boot!

What a fun night!

Day 193: Holiday Parties

Little D, enjoying a sucker.

This morning was our ward Christmas party.  It was so fun to watch all of the kids playing the nativity, and hanging out with the ward members during the breakfast.  It was nice to get out of the house and do something social.  Especially after this weekend when I didn't basically nothing but knit and watch Christmas movies.

This is the season for parties, so I'm trying to enjoy them while I can, because I know my social abilities will only go so far.  Soon, I'll get too overwhelmed to hang out with people, and I'll have to hide out and act the social outcast until I can recover.  But until that hits, I'm trying to get out and show my face.  Maybe if I hit enough social events before I become catatonic, no one will notice when I disappear for a while.  Maybe...

Day 192: Weekend Wimp

Some more Christmas decorations.

So, another weekend is upon us, and I've put off my posts once again.  I would say more on the subject, but what else is there to say?

I actually don't have much of anything to say lately.  It seems I'm just going through the motions each day, waiting for something interesting to come along.  I could try to create something interesting, but I'm pretty sure we all know that isn't likely to happen.  Maybe one day I'll get brave and do something crazy that I can write about.

Until then, we'll have plenty of boring posts like this one. :)

Day 188: Home Is Where the Hearth Is

A Christmas decoration

Another work week started today.  Another Monday. I'm starting to feel the stress of the holiday.  I usually feel it sooner than this, but I think I was in denial.  This time of year is full of family and friends and good will, but it's also filled with stress and over-booking and lots of missed deadlines.

Not only do I have more personal errands than usual to run during December, but I also have more work to do.  I have more church responsibilities, more family functions, more chances to screw something up.

And I feel it keenly, that I will have an epic fail at any moment and disappoint everyone around me.  It's not like I'm jumping at shadows here either.  I've done it before, and I'll do it again, because the more I have to pack into my schedule, the less I get done.  The more responsibility I have when I'm stressed, the less responsible I am.

The only difference this year is that I'm one year older and one year wiser.  And most importantly, I have perspective.  I may get easily overwhelmed.  I may freak out and forget something important.  I may fall short of mine and others' expectations, but at least I know that it's not the end of the world.  I will live through it.  January will come around, desolate and boring, and I'll still be here, intact and relatively unscathed.

Day 186: Family Portraits

Robert and Lindsey and baby Davis.

So I got to take Robert and Lindsey's family portraits today and it was so FUN!  Coincidentally, we went to the Riverwoods shopping center to take the pictures, and I was so excited, having traipsed through its deserted streets with glee just last night.  I was able to pose them in front of all the sites I drooled over last night.  And even though we took the pictures during the day, the lights were still amazing and provided a very festive backdrop.

I noticed today that when I get into the groove of taking pictures, I don't notice much else.  For example, I was so hyper-focused on getting the right angle for one of the shots with the family that I didn't even notice that I'd stepped in a very sticky mud patch.  I was walking all over the mud, taking pictures here and there, and not noticing that my boots were getting more and more glued to the ground.  It wasn't until I tried to move from the mud to a rock that I realized my boots were so gunked up and gooey that had no purchase when I stepped onto the smooth surface of the rock.  Luckily I didn't slip or fall, and luckily my boots weren't real leather, so cleaning them off at home wasn't that difficult.  I found it very funny because I honestly didn't care about the boots - I was more worried about slipping and falling - all I wanted to do was move on to the next location and get more pictures, but Robert and Lindsey were so worried about it.

The shot above is not one of the "portraits."  I just like candid shots so much that I decided to pick it for the photo project.  But we also got some really good portrait shots of the family that hopefully Robert and Lindsey will be able to use.

Day 185: Christmas Cheer

Our Christmas Tree

Sorry for the late posts.  As usual, the weekend caught up with me.

Tonight I went out to a movie with friends, and afterwards we walked around the newly-remodeled Riverwoods shopping center.  They have the coolest Christmas wonderland theme right now!  It's an outdoor mall, so you wouldn't think kiosks and Santa's workshop would be a good idea in Winter, but they skillfully placed fire pits and heat lamps all over the shopping center to allow shoppers to enjoy the ambiance without getting frost bite.

Our movie didn't get out until after 11pm, so when we walked around the shopping center it was basically deserted.  That made it all the more fun for me!  I just wish I had my camera with me.  The trees were gorgeously lit, and there were little icicle lights that "trickled" downward.  We walked around the entire area twice, and only went back to our car when the heaters and lights started turning off.

What a great way to get into the season!

Day 184: Lights

Lights shining through some dead grasses.

So it's the beginning of the Christmas season, and the beginning of the second-half of my project, and I was all set with a picture of our newly trimmed Christmas tree.  But on a whim I took this shot in a parking lot tonight, and when I looked at all my pictures from today, this was my favorite.  So, We'll have to save the tree for another day.

I'm excited about the holiday season and all the fun it brings!  Christmas music, societal good will, corny Christmas movies, parties, yummy food, and getting gifts for everyone.  Usually this is my favorite time of year because I completely ruin my budget and splurge on all my family and friends.  But this year I'm not as financially comfortable as I'd like, and it's the first time in several years that I have no money to spend on Christmas.  It puts a slight damper on my season, I won't lie.  But I'm trying to find a better way to look at it.  Now, instead of spending hundreds of dollars on impulse buys for family, I'll be able to take more time really thinking about each person I give a gift to this season, and spend a lot less money doing it.  There are very economical ways of giving gifts to family and friends, I know because I have a few siblings who have always been very good at thrifty and thoughtful gift giving.  So I just need to put my thinking cap on, and find unique ways of showing my family and friends that I care about them this Christmas.

Now that I've typed that all out, I'm getting excited about it!  This is going to be a great Christmas!