Giveaway

I've been thinking about this post for awhile... I told you awhile back that I was going to do a giveaway, and I haven't done it yet.

I feel a little egotistical doing this as a giveaway. It makes me nervous. But I have this picture:

It's blown up to an 8 x 10 and framed. And the entire purpose of doing that was to give it away- I already have it on my wall as a 12 x 13. In my opinion, it's the best picture I've ever taken. And at some point in my future life, I'd like to do something with my photographs.

It's scary for me to put this out there- but if you want it, leave a comment.

I want to know what you would like to do in your "future life." Or are you one of the lucky ones to be doing it right now?

I'll pick a winner on Friday.

Quick Preview

Here is a quick preview of last week...


I was gone for training, and was able to have a rental car. The nice thing about rentals is you get to try out different types of vehicles. I keep a running list of types of cars I like and dislike from those experiences. This one? It was nice and roomy, I liked that. But there wasn't much space for luggage...

In the town that I had training at, there are these corn statues (for lack of a better description). I have no idea why they are there, I keep meaning to google it to find out.

And in the historic "old Dublin" there was this rock wall. I found it to be very unique. I'm not sure that I would want anything like this in front of my house, but it definitely adds character!

A Few Randoms

I've noticed that I'm not the only one taking mini-blogging breaks these days... And after this post I will be gone for a week. But, not to worry, I'm still taking pictures!

I love days that start out looking like this. (Or somewhat like this, seeing as I doctored the color.) Fall is absolutely my favorite season ever. And the days that the sky is gloomy, the wind is howling and the only thing you want to do is curl up and read a good book.... Love those days!

This is a place by my work. I have been bringing my camera everywhere I go these days. And it struck me that this would make a cool background for portraits.

I had this kid over for dinner the other day. I was really glad that he was able to come. He's up here for his first year at school and apparently learning all the tricks on how to get free meals. I told him that I would be more than willing to have him over at least once a week. As I've said before, I do enjoy cooking and it's always nice to have someone who appreciates it to help eat the meal!

If you are keeping track, you've probably noticed that I haven't posted a picture for every day this month. I have been taking them, but not posting. The one I took yesterday we of an overhead walkway in town. They are removing those, so I decided that I wanted to get a picture before that happened. It has the name of the town I live in on it. And even though I know people can figure it out through different blog entries, I'd rather not make it that easy!

And I know I said I'd be doing a give-away soon, that's still coming! I'm just debating what to give away. As soon as I figure that out, it'll be posted!

eta- for what-ever reason, blogger is not keeping my paragrapghs separated, sorry!

Quick Trip

Annette and I decided to take a trip to see Kelli and Bryan this weekend. We were supposed to leave Saturday morning at nine, but she overslept so we got going a little later than planned.

It was so nice to go and see this little guy:

He's getting so big! I know you can say that about any little kid, but it's true! He has the funniest way of screeching. Drew will be sitting there and maybe 'talking' a bit and then he'll just let out a screech. And if you do it back, he knows you are talking to him.

He loves it!

My stories

I don't often feel like baking. I would rather cook any day. But this past weekend, I came home from work with the urge to make chocolate chip cookies. I know enough to take advantage of those urges, so that is what I did. My oven in this rental is pretty bad. The recipe calls for baking the cookies 14 minutes, I left them in for 9 and they still were crisper than I liked. Maybe if I had a better oven, I would bake more!

I call this one, why I want another lens. Kara and I went to Hungarian Falls on Sunday. I didn't take any photos of the falls, even though they were running. Instead we ran across this tiny little mouse who let me get extremely close until I took out my camera. Then he took shelter under this tree... I need a new lens!

When I was about 9 years old I decided I wanted to learn how to crochet. Santa brought me a book, yarn and a hook that year. Over the following years I have sporadically crocheted. I enjoy working with yarn, it's very relaxing. This year I decided I wanted to learn how to knit also. And there is my first attempt!

I have read these books many times but I have never read them from 1-7. When I first started reading Harry Potter, there were four books out. And I always anticipated the release of the next. When my parents were up here I read the first one to Jodi and decided to keep going to the end. I am noticing little discrepancies that I never did before. I'm also noticing details that come together in ways I didn't realize. But I'm also remembering what an excellent series this really is!

This is my crafting area. Someday I will have a biggger space in which to do my creating. For now my table usually looks like this- it needs to be cleaned, dusted and actually used more regularly.

Aaron and I went for a drive last night and we saw this sight. It's a little too dark I think, but it captures something that speaks to me.

Still Here

I'm still here- and I'm still doing my photo a day. Work's been crazy busy as we are frantically trying to prepare for an audit... I have the weekend off though so I promise I will have all photos uploaded by Saturday!

And on this day I just wanted to say thank you to all of those who have served, do serve, or have loved ones in the services. We need people like you!

Check This Out

Annette told me about this website. I don't like to play around with Photoshop because I want to be able to take good shots straight out of my camera. I don't want to spend time messing around with them.

But I did enjoy turning this picture:


Into this:

A fun website to be sure!

Laugh and Be Happy

My picture for today is for Leanne. (And let me know if you don't want me to link your blog!) Leanne and I are cousins. When I was around seven years old, she began writing to me. Letters, I mean. We were pen-pals. I don't know if I ever asked why or how she picked me to write to. Interesting. Leanne?

I remember being in awe of her. There are a few years between us and I couldn't believe that I was special enough for Leanne to take notice of. We lived in different states- still do, and didn't see each other very often at all (which is the case with most of my cousins.) I vividly remember being at my grandparents when Leanne was there and she had one long fingernail (maybe you had all long fingernails, but I remember just looking at one...) That was so cool. I couldn't keep my fingernails long if I tried. (Remember I was 7-8 years old at this time.)

Anyway, we wrote to each other for a quite few years and then this and that got in the way- mainly I became a very poor correspondent. But even though I wasn't much of a letter writer, Leanne still remembered my high school graduation and sent me this:


I asked her about it recently as we have gotten back in touch and she could not recall the pig. So Leanne, there it is. And it still makes me smile every time I see it!

Running and Sunrises

My picture from yesterday:


I have started running again. After the marathon that I ran a year ago last May, I haven't put running shoes back on regularly. I'm trying to change that now and for the past two weeks, I have been on a schedule of running two or three times a week. I'm not where I want to be with speed, distance or the shape I'm in but I'm out there and I'm running. That is what counts.

Yesterday when I went for a run, the sky was just beautiful and I decided to get up this morning to catch the sunrise.

They aren't perfect pictures as far as the technical aspect goes. I'm learning, or trying to learn, how to take pictures. I enjoy this hobby, it's fun to try to capture the best photo I can. And I love having a digital camera because I can try over and over and over again!

September beginnings

I'm trying to take a picture a day this month. I've done it for the first three days, so we'll see if it continues.

From day 1: Aaron doesn't think we have enough pictures of the two of us, so I was happy to begin to fix that problem.



Day 2: I did it, I went back to school this semester. I'm only taking one three credit class, but I'm going back.

Stay tuned for a giveaway...

Changed Header

I just changed the header on my blog. I heard a quote this weekend that said "life is daily." And I loved it.

Well duh, right? Of course life is daily... And yet, I know that I tend to forget that. Too many times I'm worried about what's coming up in the next few days or weeks and I forget to slow down and enjoy what is happening right now.

My new goal, to take the time to enjoy each day! Because after all, life IS daily.

What I Did Last Night

I went fishing with Aaron. We traveled to a couple new spots that he wanted to try out. I cast my line, got it tangled in someone else's fishing line that was stuck to a rock; let Aaron fix that problem and then I watched him catch this walleye:

I then told him I was proud of him and promised to never divulge his secrets if only he would fill me in on what they were.

I came home empty-handed.

That is what I did last night.