New Year :)

I don't know about you but I'm looking forward to 2011!   2011 will be my last year in my 20s!  It's also going to be 5 years of marriage in March :)  We have our trip to Disney in October and T's 4th birthday!  I have some photo shoots planned and hopefully my business will continue to grow.

I'm not making any resolutions-- just live my life as best I can :)

What do YOU have planned for 2011?

Blondes don't have more fun

I dyed my hair dark brown... I decided I'm not high maintenance and didn't want to keep spending money highlighting my hair.  I have to fix the color a bit tomorrow because apparently I have a lot of hair and one box was not enough to cover all of it... thus I have a streak or two left ;)

Oh and if you look at the side of the blog you'll see a little counter thing... it's where I log my miles on the treadmill :)  I've been doing it every day--1 mile a day so far.  Woo!

Remind me again...

in the spring when I'm going crazy with my TWO grad classes... that I was the one that signed up for them.    

K.  Thanks.

Christmas Menu

I know you're going to be jealous of my menu ;)

arroz con gandules (rice with pigeon peas)
lechón asado (roast pork... though not authentic because I got it boneless and skinless)
pasteles (green banana meat stuffed pastries?? Not sure how else to describe it)
tostones (twice fried green plantains)

Only thing missing is my morcilla (blood sausage) but can't find that anywhere around here.

YUM!

Count Your Blessings Tuesday

Today I am grateful for:

• energy.  I have NO idea how it is that I stay up until midnight and get up at 6am and still function.  
• having almost everything crossed off my to-do list.  
• creativity.  I love being able to create things that don't look like a two year old made it :)
• getting into the spirit of the season which is GIVING.  I get so much more out of giving to others than getting things. 
• the anticipation of Christmas.  I can't wait to see T's face on Christmas morning when he sees the tree in all its glory :)
• T not knocking my teeth out when he busted my lip.  It still hurts like hell : /

All kinds of crafty

This weekend I've delved in many different crafty endeavors.  I:

• baked and decorated gingerbread cookies 
• baked a cake for more cake truffles
• made Tootsie the owl 
• made "Reindeer Food"
• cut out all the pieces to make T his own owl which does not have a name yet...

Check out the owl for T!  I love him!  He's made out of a stretchy "jean" fabric, white corduroy eyeballs and brown centers, orange fleece beak, blue flannel belly and swirly orange batik wings.  

I also have been reading about this tradition of leaving "reindeer food" outside on Christmas Eve and I loved it.  So I made T his own:

It's oats and sparkle confetti.  On the back it has this poem:

Sprinkle on the lawn at night
The moon will make it sparkle bright
As Santa's reindeer fly and roam
This will guide them to your home.

In addition to all that I also cleaned the house and got a few things organized-- and had some fun outside the house too.  Not bad for a weekend ;) 

Meet Tootsie

Yeah, I name my sewing projects.  I made this little owl for somebody who is having a baby soon.  My sewing skills are not up to par with S and C but I think it turned out pretty cute!

The pattern called for feet but I didn't think they would look cute... I added the belly panel instead.  

If you want to make it too, check out the website here.

Allowing myself a non grateful post...

This is why today sucked:

• my uncle passed away this morning from cancer.  While I know he's no longer in pain, he was an awesome person and I'm mad that he was taken away from this world.
• school made a bad call today in not closing early.  My commute was horrendous and my car slid all around the road... no fun.
• my prof. asked us to revise all our projects although he had told us we would submit it and not have to worry about it again.
• my treadmill was not delivered today.

--------

I am, however, lucky to have my life, health and family as well as friends.  Can't take anything for granted, can we?  

100+ treats

My unexpected day at home was not unproductive.  I made over 100 treats and bagged them... 47 bags of treats to be exact!  I made:

       - chocolate fudge cake with chocolate icing dipped in dark mint chocolate with green vanilla swirl

       - chocolate fudge cake with chocolate icing dipped in milk chocolate and sprinkles

       - honey wheat pretzels dipped in milk chocolate and sprinkles

Can you say YUM!?

Count Your Blessings Tuesday

Today I am grateful for:

• hot chocolate + car + Christmas lights 
• an awesome anniversary celebration with C
• evenings at home with the three best cuddlers out there (C, T and D..the dog)
• getting to know part of my department a bit better with our new "girls nights" 
• my budding photographer
• Christmas craft time with T
• the new treadmill and making an investment on our health 

Lots to be grateful for.  What is on YOUR list?

Best Present

This is being delivered Thursday.  It's our gift to ourselves for 2010... Merry Christmas, happy birthday and any other thing ;)  Goal is at least 30 min a day every day.  No excuses.  

C + M

Today C and I had our 10 year anniversary celebration day.  We celebrated by going to the Walters Art Gallery and Fogo de Chao.  We also hit up a few stores in our travels during the day.
To see some cool photos of the Walters, click here.

Here are a few highlights of the 150 photos I took today....:

I can laugh now...

but I really just wanted to cry when I got through stuffing my Christmas cards into the nicely addressed and decorated envelopes and noticed that in the cards I designed, I misspelled "Holidays."  Yup, I lied... I did have time to design my own cards-- WITH THE WRONG SPELLING!
I can't believe I missed that... and C missed it too!  UGH!

"Happy Holdays" people!

I never post on Tuesdays...

Maybe I should change it to "whenever I feel like counting my blessings".  Any day is a good day to think about what you're grateful for, right?

Today I am grateful for:

• cuddle time with C and passing out on the couch ;)
• going out on an errand and ending up driving around looking at Christmas lights before heading home
• my parents.  I hope they know I love them and that's why I get upset because I don't see them often!  
• C's interview this past Monday.  I'm so glad he got called to interview and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he gets the job.  Either way I am proud of him and all he has accomplished thus far!
• having almost all presents wrapped and most of my cards ready to mail.  I love wrapping presents and addressing Christmas cards :)
• T saying "you look beautiful, Mommy"... kids don't just say things if they don't mean it!
• date night with C this Saturday!  Museum and yummy food--here we come!

What are YOU grateful for?

So many choices! What to do, what to do!?

In the past I've had to resort to creating my own Christmas card design on Photoshop and had it printed through my photo lab because I couldn't find cards cute enough.  I don't have enough time this year to devote to my holiday card design so I found myself searching elsewhere for cards to suit my taste. Well Shutterfly sure has outdone itself this year.  Check out all the cute cards they have for 2010!  I like the simple modern designs that they have as well as the cute & colorful ones!  I found a couple of cards that may actually work for this photo that I took:

Check out the designs I found and let me know which one you like the best for the C family 2010 holiday card!

1.  I like this one because it's simple and cute!  Love all the colors and that it doesn't scream XMas.

2.  I'm totally into typography.  This one spoke to me.

3.  Very different with the grey color... again, loving the typography here and the simple design.

4.  Did somebody say PLAID!?  It's no argyle but equally as cute!

5.  I love the idea of an update card but I'm not sure I'll have enough to fill the card!

What would you choose?  If you haven't checked out Shutterfly's card selection this year, click here.  I am SURE you'll find something to suit your style.  Just fair warning though... you might not be able to control yourself!  Especially if you find yourself searching outside of the holiday card section and into the calendar section like I did tonight.  Good thing I take a lot of photos!

If you're a blogger and like Shutterfly, check out this awesome promotion they have going on right now!  Click here to check it out!

Highly Productive Saturday

This is the first Saturday that I've been home!  I got to sleep in thanks to my awesome hubby, got some lunch (yeah.. that much sleeping in!) and headed to IKEA to get said awesome hubby the desk and chair he has been wanting.  I put together the desk, drawer set and chair all by myself :)  I purged and re-organized the office area in the basement and C got rid of the old furniture.  I also finished editing my last shoot which was long overdue.  Although I didn't get to the actual cleaning of the house, I got a lot accomplished.  Tomorrow will be my cleaning day but I'm going to take it easy!

Change of plans

So I originally planned to go out with C on Saturday-- even lined up a babysitter for the day but I decided to postpone our celebration until next weekend.  I've been so stressed over my grad project and have had no time to clean, do laundry or go grocery shopping.  Last weekend we were in Jersey so nothing got done then either.  I just want to stay home, clean the house and wait until next weekend when I won't have the grad class project hanging over my head (last class is Wed).

Best part of this is that the in-laws will be in town next weekend so FREE babysitting and we can be gone aaaaaaaaall day.  I already have our day planned for next Sat.  I'm thinking we'll visit the Walters art gallery or the BMA and then hit up Fogo de Chao at the Harbor.  A nice, quiet adult outing.  As far as a gift goes, I'm making a timeline of our life with photos of the many events we've had such as graduation, first jobs, moving in together, getting married, buying our first home, having a baby... and a few random moments that are important to both of us.

Alone

Today I was talking to my Mom and asked her when Dad was going to let me borrow her (he actually told me she could come see me) and she said that she couldn't... that she can't leave Dad alone.  She then passed the phone to Dad who proposed to me that instead of having her come to me, we could all go on a cruise... the whole fam.

I lost it then... first off... I can't afford to take my family on a cruise.  To go on a cruise I'd have to pay for plane tickets to FL, dog sitter, airport parking plus the cruise.  Seeing as I'm paying just about 2,000 next semester for grad school, it's NOT happening.  My second thought to that is... how can you be well enough to travel on a cruise but not to come see your daughter?  I started crying.... my Dad passed the phone off to my Mom.  He can never take me crying.

I told my Mom that I am alone.  I have a huge family and I feel completely ALONE.  Nobody has seen my house--- nobody seeks me out.  If I want to see anyone I always have to be the one that makes the effort.  Nobody makes the effort to see me.  I told her I am hurt and can't keep doing this.  She told me she loves me and that she understands and asked me to calm down and that we'd talk later.

My Dad called later to ask for "forgiveness" from me.  He explained what I already knew... that it's hard for him to travel... that Mom has to be around because of his health problems.  I know.  I know all of this yet I still am hurt and I still feel alone.  I guess I'm the youngest so I get the joys of having "older" parents.  I never imagined that my parents would be so far away from me.  I am the only one that calls every day to check on them and the only one who really cares... and I'm the one that is on the outside.

I'm glad they know how I feel but it doesn't change anything.  I understand why they can't come visit me but it doesn't make it right.

I'm so thankful that I have C and T and that they mostly fill the void but there is nothing that can patch up the piece of my heart that belongs to my parents.

Count Your Blessings Tuesday: Wednesday Edition

The days keep getting away from me!

Today I am grateful for:

• a finished first draft of my grad project just in time
• laughter... we have a lot of it at our house 
• xmas shopping that is mostly DONE
• my snowflake decorated classroom... makes me happy
• almost 10 years with my best friend :)
• finally feeling like the drama at work is gone
• DECEMBER!  It's here!  I love December.

Please please please

Ideas needed!  STAT!

Dec. 6 marks 10 years that I have been with C and I want to do something special... just no idea what.  Keep in mind I have limited time (grad class kicking my butt), a 3 year old and would like to not spend a ton of $$ before Xmas.  You gals are all so creative-- I know you can come up with something grand ;)

Count Your Blessings Tuesday: Wednesday Edition

Today I am grateful for:

• holiday decor.  I absolutely love how my house looks around the holidays :)
• Christmas shopping almost done!
• rave reviews of my photography. 
• time off from work to enjoy my time with family.
• not having to cook a Thanksgiving feast.
• being where I am in my life... just where I am meant to be.

I'm a part of the problem...

I complained and scoffed at the malls having Christmas decor out and Christmas music a month in advance.  I laughed at people that had blowups on their lawn.  I am now the proud owner of a small santa blowup aaaaaaaaaaand my Christmas decor is up.  I haven't put the lights outside yet or the blowup but inside... it's all Christmas.  I may be hypocrite... I'll own it... but I'm a happy one... and I have a happy kid to go with it.

Rave

This is the nicest rave I've received to date for my photography.  Had to share ;)

I must tell you, first of all, you are awesome! Freakin' awesome. You are just amazing and you have such a talent. I just looked at your website for the first time...and I just said to ___ how incredible you are.

The couple of pictures I saw are amazing. I can't wait to see the rest. You are so talented...what the heck are you doing teaching. Holy mother of heck! Just unbelievable.

Thanks again for coming by today and let me say this...worth every penny.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOTS

I've been meaning to buy myself boots for a long long time.  These called my name today.  I think we go well together ;)  

Now I need to go out and buy me a sweater dress to look all cute with these boots.  What do you think?

2011

Guess who's shooting TWO weddings in 2011!  Yup.  MOI!  Right... the person who said that she didn't want to shoot weddings.  This is where the money is at.  Once I got last summer's check, the apathy towards weddings slowly went away.  Oh and I DOUBLED my price from this summer.  Go me ;)

Ah... I can breathe

Literally and figuratively!  I started taking antibiotics yesterday as well as Musinex D (which I had to pay almost $30 and sign my life away for) and took a nap before grad class.  After the nap, I felt much better.  I presented my project I've been working on for a while and it went very well!  I am relieved that have that done thus the figurative "breathing" ;)

Being sick for over a week was not cool... my house looks as bad as I felt.  Hopefully this weekend I can get things in order!  I also have to start on the second project for the class -- have a draft due Dec. 1st.  Busy busy!

Random thoughts and Blessings

I'm going to ramble on since I can't get my brain in order.  Here's what's on my mind"

• So blessed to have had time alone with my hubby thanks to the in-laws.  This was the second time I've ever been away from T for a number of days and I must say this time was MUCH nicer.  I gotta do this more often.
• Happy to have finished editing last weekend's shoots.  One week turnaround time is not bad!
• I'm totally weirded out... my ex boyfriend messaged me on AIM asking if I would be able to shoot his wedding.  I'm SO charging his a$$ more than anyone else.  I would NOT want an ex at my wedding-- but that's just me.  A job is a job I guess... should I shoot?  
• My voice yesterday sounded like a 60 year old heavy smoker.  It was sexy.
• My Christmas cactus thinks it's getting to be that time of the year... guess he has been checking out the malls.
• I have 14 conferences already... and none of the conferences are from the parents of the two kids who failed for the quarter.  Guess it makes sense...
• I just found the most magical blanket ever at Target... it's red plaid on one side and fleecy magical goodness on the other.  It's the softest blanket I've ever had.
• Since I can't ever seem to have a break on a weekend to see my friend W and do our annual photo shoot :(  I had to come up with an idea of what we want to do for our x-mas pics.  I'm really excited about my idea and I hope it turns out.  It should be cute.  Stay tuned.
• I gotta go write up a test... SO not getting into this week.  Is it nap time yet?

Accomplished

This is what my to-do list looked like at the end of yesterday:

alone time with hubby
get hair done
finish grad paper 
finish grad powerpoint
finish editing photos from Saturday's shoot


So now all I have left to do is:

rake leaves
clean house
edit Sunday's photos
take photos on Saturday
oh and enjoy time with hubby :)

@ home sick :(

I had to stay home today because I'm not feeling well but instead of laying around I'm working on my grad school project and registering for the Spring.

I'm pretty happy right now because in doing my registration I can see I am closer to graduation!  Summer/Fall 2012.  I know it's a bit away but I can see the faint light at the end of the tunnel.  I can't wait!

What I want for Christmas

My far-fetched list:

1. Nikon 24-70mm lens.  Oh... one can dream.

2.  Coach Kristin Leather Checkbook Wallet

3.  Burberry Scarf

4.  Pearl necklace

5.  Fendi sunglasses

Back to reality list :)  

What's funny is that I would be happier with this stuff than the above mentioned (aside from the lens.. I think I would die if I did get that lens!)

1.  Epson PictureMate Charm - I've been wanting one of these for a while...

2.  Vera Bradley Knit Hat

3.  Vera Bradley Large Hobo in Barcelona

4.  Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly

5.  Magpie Necklace