Days 286-292

The following pictures are from the week of March 14-20.

Day 286: Too Cool for School

Katie loves those sunglasses.  She wore them during her entire visit at our house today. Too cute!

Day 287: FAIL

Oh guys...saddest day ever.

I forgot to take a picture yesterday.  Completely spaced it!  I remembered around 3pm TODAY that I never took one.  I double-checked my phone, my iPod, and my camera for stray pictures, but there was nothing.

So SAD!  But since I'm so very close to the end of my journey with this project, I've decided to keep going anyway.  So here is a picture I took this evening that I will use as a filler for yesterday's screw-up.  I call it: Walk on By

Day 288: Headless

Self portrait number...whatever.  I still feel awful about missing yesterday's picture so I'm portraying that frustration by cutting my head out of the shot here.

Day 289: Old School

The two most used cook books in our house: Grandma's Betty Crocker cook book and the Better Homes and Gardens cook book we've had forever.

Day 290: One of These Things is Not Like The Other

I didn't stage this.  I found the cans perfectly lined up like this in our food storage shelves.  Pretty cool.

Day 291: Fun and Games

Hyrum and Esther trying to play Foosball tonight at the family dinner.  It's a good thing they're both on the same side because they were slamming those rods back and forth and were sure to poke somebody's eye out.

Day 292: Movie Food

Yum!

Days 279-285

Hey guys,

Sorry for the incredibly, ridiculously, embarrassingly late posts.  Hopefully I'll get back on track with these pretty soon.  This is a great indication of how I get easily overwhelmed and shut down.  It's amazing that I've made it this far on the project without giving up entirely. :)

The following pictures are for the week of March 7-13.

Day 279: Playdate?

Some cute cards my friend Kimmy gave me for my birthday last year.  They're so cute, I don't have the heart to use them. I know it's silly, but I'm weird like that.

Day 280: Pre-spring sunset

One day I might count how many sunsets I took at work during this photo challenge...I bet it's in the double-digits.

Day 281: I'm toast

Trying to get creative with bland-looking food by putting pretty plates underneath it.

Not sure it worked.

Day 282: Reading Party!

We like to have reading parties in our family.  They mainly consist of us all sitting around in silence, reading different novels.

...It sounds cooler than it is.

Day 283: Snow-capped Mountains

Some days I'm just struck by the beauty of this place!

Day 284: The Chocolate!

Coolest little bakery I've ever been to!  I'm going back.  Soon.  Who cares about that stupid, "no sugar" rule anymore.  Life after this place will never be the same!  There is so much I want to say about it...the awesome pictures on their website, the quaint atmosphere of the shop, the friendly staff who know how to joke around with customers, the AMAZING vanilla cake with chocolate ganache, the TO DIE FOR hot chocolate with spices in it that really make you feel like you're drinking Christmas in a cup all year round...

SO GOOD!

Day 285: My Triumph!

Inspired by that awesome bakery from yesterday, I decided to make a cake of my own...

After a fiasco with the first cake, Christine made a great red velvet from scratch so I could still use all of the awesome decorating stuff I got for my birthday.  This is what we made as a result!  I'm so proud!  I can't believe it looks almost presentable!  Cake decorating is easier than I thought it would be!

Days 272 through 278

Day 272: Inundated

This is the pile of mail that greeted us when we got home last night.  It's about half as big as the pile of paperwork on my desk when I returned to work.  I am thoroughly overwhelmed.  I have no idea where to even begin with everything I have to do now that I'm home.

Help!

Day 273: Glory in Imperfections

I got this penguin at the flea market in Cabo.  I picked him out amid a bunch of other, better looking, trinkets because I liked his little gimpy fin.  Being unique is something of which we all have the capability.  But here's the secret: you can't be unique when you're trying to be.  You can only pull it off when you are truly yourself - when you are no longer concerned with how you compare to others.

That is the challenge.

Day 274: The End of Something

Month 9 is complete!  That's right, I only have 3 months left!  The end is near...finally.

Today as I took pictures of the sunset, I was sad to know they would be the last pictures I took with this awesome lens I rented from Borrow Lenses.  I rented this same lens last summer for my family reunions, and I can't express how much I wish I didn't have to give it back.  It's too expensive for me to justify the purchase, but if I rent it any more times I will completely nullify that excuse.  The rentals aren't cheap, and soon I'll have paid the same amount in rental costs as I would have if I'd purchased the dang thing.

One day...

Day 275: The "Little" Things

I'm so glad RoseAnne came over tonight for our regularly scheduled girls night!  She was all dressed up for an appointment she had before she came over, and she looked so cute!  Jack was his usual adorable self, chasing the cats around the house in his speedy crawl, making faces at us, and being generally captivating for the camera.

I really love my family!

Day 276: Red Trees

I'm used to seeing trees turn red during the fall, but I'm not familiar with red trees with no leaves.  I saw these today in a parking lot and had to stop and capture them.  In the slanting winter sunlight, the bark on these trees shone a vivid red - almost fuchsia.  I wish I still had that lens I rented because it would have been able to capture these better.

Ah, well.  No use thinking about it.

Day 277: Note to Self

Note to self: put makeup on before taking an extreme close-up of your face.

If I had taken any other pictures today, I would have posted one of them instead.  This picture required an obscene amount of touch-up to make it even slightly acceptable, when all I needed to do was dab on a bit of cover-up and eyeliner before I hit the shutter button.  I guess I'm still shell-shocked from my return to work this week.  I can't believe how busy I was, and yet how little I got done!  So frustrating!  I guess all I can hope for is to do better next week.

Day 278: The Old Standby

Whenever you see a picture of my cats on here, you can almost be certain it's because I forgot to take a picture until right before I went to bed.  The cats seem to be my last resort subjects.  If I'm too tired to think of something original, I just run upstairs and snap a few of the cats and call it good.

I need a new standby I think.

Day 262: Packing and Stuff

My suitcase...all packed!!

I'll right, it's finally time!  The long-anticipated, much-talked-about Cruise is finally happening!  We leave for Cali tomorrow morning and then I'm off for 8 awesome days!  I should probably take this moment to point out that I will not (on purpose this time) be posting anything until I get back.  I've been told the internet access on the ship is really expensive, so I'll just do what I did this summer when I was camping and write my blog posts on my laptop until I'm home and can post them to the blog.

I'm so excited!

Oh, and don't you just love the cat hairs stuck to the suitcase?  Awesome.

Day 261: Cuddle Bug

Jack and RoseAnne

It's so fun to hang out with family.  It's so fun to live near so many family members!  Especially since I used to feel so isolated from family here in Utah (weird, I know).  Now, so many family members live close that I never seem to catch up with all of them.

I love it when RoseAnne comes over to hang out.  We always have so much fun just watching TV or laughing and reminiscing.  I also love it that I love hanging out with family because I used to really struggle with it.  You know, social anxiety and all that.  Life just seems so much better now that I can enjoy people and want to be around them!

I'm not saying that I don't have my down days, because I obviously do.  But I'm definitely better than I was.

Day 260: Pelting Snow?

The snow storm tonight.

I knew there was a storm coming today.  The wind was howling all afternoon and when I went outside at lunch to run some errands, my hair literally swirled around my head and straight up as if I were in a cyclone.  But even though the weather was freaky cool all day, I was still shocked to see the snow whipping through our back yard tonight when I looked out the window.

There was no way I was going out there in the cold and wind, so I took this shot from the window to the back porch.  Lazy, I know.  But at least I got a picture of it. :)

Day 257: Confetti Stuff

A close-up of a cat toy.

Today I felt better than I have all week.  It's like the cloud lifted a bit and I can see the end in sight.  Maybe it's because we got so much done yesterday, or because I caught up a little on my blog posts tonight.

In any case, I'm glad for the respite.  I'm glad to feel happy and excited about my upcoming vacation, and I'm glad to go to bed! :)

Day 256: Bullseye

My parents' magnetic dart board.

The last Saturday before our cruise and we totally killed it on our chore list!

To Do Today:

*Grocery shopping

*Write packing lists and start packing

*Dress shopping for formal night

*Beauty prep

*Laundry

*Blog posts

Now, to get the second half of the list complete by next Friday!

Day 254: Play Pens

Baby Jack

This little boy is so cute!  All night tonight he kept making this face at us while we were playing with him.  Also, while we were all watching our show, he decided it was boring in the living room and crawled off to the kitchen where the cat food is kept.  After I found him near the cat food I brought him back to the living room and put up a fake wall to close him off.  It was just a TV tray covered by a blanket, but Jack was so upset when he saw it the first time he tried to crawl away.  He stopped dead in front of it and pouted, then sat back on his little diaper booty and cried in frustration.

It was so cute!  And so sad at the same time.  We were able to keep him distracted most of the time, but every once in a while he would try to get out again and get upset.  Poor boy!

Day 243: De-Junking

A pile of junk from my closet.

My sister and I planned this big clear-out day on Saturday.  We were going to get rid of all the clutter and haul it all to the thrift store.  We were going to get so much cleaning done.

We put it off until the end of the day, and quickly filled up these few bags of stuff within an hour before bed.

I still haven't begun to go through my closet, let alone my out-of-control bathroom.  Maybe if I take it one section at a time I'll actually do it.

Day 242: Don't Laugh

Me...again.

Ok, so here's what happened.

I took a picture of myself in my new swimsuit today - in my bathroom mirror - purely for personal documentation.  It was supposed to be my "before" picture, and then after I loose the 10 lbs I wanted to loose to look good in this new suit, I was going to take an "after" picture and compare them.

I was not planning on using it for my blog.

Ever.

But when I realized at 1AM that I hadn't taken a picture for the day (aside from the one above) I realized I was up a creek.

So I cropped it to death.

Because this is - after all - a before picture, and, by no means, do I want anyone to see it but me!

Day 241: Pile of Bones

"The Pile"

When my parents are home, our entry-way never looks this bad.  My mom probably straightens out the shoes 2 or 3 times a week.  But alas, they have been out of town for almost two weeks now, and my sister and I can't be bothered to put the shoes in order when we're just going to be messing them up in two seconds.

Unfortunately, as I glanced around the living room today, looking for inspiration for another photo, I realized that this mess of shoes resembles a mass grave.  Or at least, it reminds me of the images of genocide that they showed us in school.

It was a morbid thought when it entered my mind.  And it perched there all evening as I remembered the horrors of our past, and the sick beauty of the photography and art that has portrayed that suffering over the years.  I guess you could say that I brooded over it until I finally took the picture and let the thoughts escape my mind through the image, to camp there for a while.

Sometimes taking pictures is very cathartic...like mental fly paper, the photographs draw the feelings towards them until they stick like glue and dislodge from my mind, to reside elsewhere.

Day 239: Typical

Me and my wet hair

I knew it was time for another self-portrait, but I didn't want to deal with thinking of something clever.  So I took a bunch of shots of myself around the room and this is the one I ended up with.

Typical.

Typical facial expression.
Typical hair shot.
Typical editing job.

Whatever, I'm too tired to care now.

Day 236: Magic Top

Christine spinning a top on her hand.

Danni came over tonight to give us our belated Christmas presents.  She got to spend her Christmas in Belgium with her parents and she came back with some awesome, authentic, gifts.

Both Christine and I got a top from Amsterdam and these things are amazing!  They spin on the weirdest things!  I couldn't get mine to spin on the tabletop when we first got them, and as we all sat around chatting in the living room, I tried to spin mine on the couch arm rest and it balanced perfectly!  Then I tried to spin it on my knee, and again, perfect balance!  So Christine decided to try spinning her top in the palm of her hand and it was so cool!  Every time we spun it in our hands, it would dance around our palms.  I got this shot as the top was spinning right off the edge of Christine's hand.

So cool!

Day 234: Candy Shoppe

My parents' candy bowl

So my parents are out of town this month visiting my aunt and uncle.  When they are here, they are the neighborhood grandparents, and they keep a bowl of candy at the front door to hand out to the children on the block.  They love it.

I am constantly tempted by that dang candy bowl and often cheat on my "no sugar" rule because of that bowl.

They left it at the front door, full of left over holiday candy.  How am I supposed to resist it when I walk past it two or three times every day??  And it's not like my parents are here to give it out to the kids in the neighborhood.

Dumb candy bowl.

Day 231: Flooding Hassles

The new padding for my carpet.

So...

Monday morning I woke up to a soggy carpet and wet furniture.  I live in the basement bedroom with my sister, and apparently our drain pipe outside got clogged and flooded the window well next to my bed.  At first we just tried to dry the carpet by moving all of the furniture out of the way and putting towels down and a fan on the area.

Then Dave (my brother) stepped in and reminded us of the padding underneath the carpet and it's mold potential.  Immediately mom was sure she smelled mold, so up the carpet came.  Dad rushed out in his sick state and bought new padding, moved all my furniture (bookcase, dresser, clutter of junk, bed, cabinet, etc.), ripped up the carpet, cut out the old padding, and dried off the cement in 2 days!

Tomorrow he'll place this new padding and replace the carpet before he Mom leave for Arizona for at least a month.  Crazy!!

Day 230: Fire Mountain

A view of tonight's sunset from my front porch.

I almost didn't get this shot out of pure stubbornness.  Christine told me how cool the sunset was looking, but I had already taken a picture, and I suddenly felt a wave of annoyance that she would assume that I needed picture ideas.

Idiot.

I always need picture ideas, and yet I always scoff when people give me any.

Luckily I realized I was being ridiculous and got up to see what she was talking about.  

Awesome view!  Click! 

Too bad it didn't turn out as bright on the photo.  It was practically red in real life.

Day 228: Steeping

Sleepytime Tea

I decided to make myself a cup of tea tonight, and as I was waiting for the water to heat, I decided it would be fun to capture a picture of the tea steeping and bleeding into the water.  So I poured the water into a glass jar in order to capture the process.  It was fun to take pictures along the entire steeping process.  I felt like a little kid doing a science fair project.  All that was missing was my science partner taking notes.

Today was tough.  I left work early yesterday to watch that movie with my coworkers, and I paid for it today.  I had to come in to the office to make up for the work I missed yesterday, and it was not fun.  I was tired and grumpy and slow.  It took me way longer to do my work than usual, which only made me more upset since I was missing my Saturday.

Needless to say, I'm a little grumpy about the whole thing, but I'm hoping I'll feel better about it come Monday. :)

Day 227: Repeat

Jasper

I wasn't going to do another picture of my sister's cat tonight, but the other pictures I took today turned out horribly and I loved the way this one turned out.

So, there you go.  I win.

I'm glad it's officially the weekend.  I went out with my coworkers after work today and saw The Green Hornet on IMAX.  That was fun!  I don't really see the need for it to be 3D though.  That felt like a waste of energy, and a pain in my head (the glasses were too small).  But as for the movie, I thought it was hilarious - just as I was expecting - and I loved it!

Not too jazzed about the big guy sitting next to me though.  I got stuck next to a man who could have easily taken up two seats.  He was encroaching so far into my seat that I was leaning obnoxiously into my poor co-worker, Todd.  I mean, it's not like I'm a petite girl myself.  I needed all the space my little seat had to offer, so having to relinquish a third of it to some strange man did not make me comfortable.  Luckily for me Todd had room to spare in his seat since he's so small.

That's not the worst part though.  This guy would make an excellent candidate for Santa Claus because his entire body (not just his belly) shook like a bowl full of jelly every time he laughed.  Unfortunately, this also made my seat shake like a bowl full of jelly...but I was not laughing.

It did make for a memorable evening, so at least there's that. :)

Day 226: Stress Case

What my stress looks like on paper.

Tonight at dinner I was telling my mom and sister that it would be interesting to see what my stress looked like if it were on the outside instead of bottled up in silent terror.

I've been a little stressed today, if you can't tell.

We all joked about it.  Christine said it would be like some kind of intense aura, Mom said it would be red to convey the stress, and I said that wasn't good enough, that it would have to be noisy as well as bright.

Fireworks were mentioned.

I thought about it after dinner and thought it would be fun - and perhaps therapeutic - to try and represent my internal struggles from today in a picture.

This is what I came up with.  The scribbled lines around my head equal the noise and confusion I've been feeling all day, and my expression is what I've been doing all day as well.  I'm pretty sure I wiped my makeup off by 10 this morning.

To get this shot, I set up my camera in my room after I drew the squiggly lines all over some paper on my wall, then I set my camera to take a picture every second (like in a photo booth), that way I would have a chance to think of a good way of expressing my anxiety.  The result was pretty funny, and did help to alleviate my stress a bit.

Below is a GIF file of the experience.  I tried to make it into a time lapse video tonight, but my computer wasn't cooperating.  My favorite part is when I make that horrible face and crack myself up.  See if you can find it.