So far, no good...

Yeah, so the picture thing is not going so well....
I did get Dustin to tell me how to get the pics from the camera to the computer, but I have yet to lug the camera out of wherever it is stored (I don't even know!) and take it with me somewhere that I may have a photo opp.

Ok, how about this: here is an internet picture of what our camera looks like -











See? it's kind of bulky...not ideal for slipping in your purse.
All right, I won't make any more excuses. Maybe you'll get a pic of something in the next few months. So much for New Years resolutions.
Here's a rundown of our weekend:
Dustin came down with a nasty head cold on Friday morning. However we had already made plans with friends for a movie outing so he and john could see Cloverfield. Happily, I followed my hunch that Cloverfield would probably not be the most enjoyable cinematic experience(since the whole film is shot on a camcorder!) and made plans with john's wife to simultaneously see Juno (which by the way is a very cute movie, even if it does portray pre-marital sex as something to cheer for).
Well to make a long story short, when Julie and I walked out of the theatre, John and Dustin were waiting for us as their movie had ended earlier. Dustin was a lovely shade of gray and was sitting with his head in his hands. Apparently the combo of sinus infection and 2 hours of running with camcorder do not go well together, and the movie had induced an episode of motion sickness for poor Dusty. (10 dollars well spent, huh?)
We then enjoyed a grueling ride home from the theatre where I was convinced each and every curve or bump was going to cause Dustin to vomit all over the seats of J&J's car. He never did but my nerve's were shot by the time we got home.
Fell into bed, slept restlessly because of sickness, and awoke on Saturday to drive to B'ham to see Dustin's family. Good times were had by all except poor Dustin who was still feeling miserable from the cold.
Cut to the ride home at 7pm. Dustin suddenly finds himself motion sick again. Repeat of aforementioned nervousness at every curve bump etc., only this time for 2 hours (I really need to get over my throw- up phobia, wouldn't you say?)
Sunday was actually a lot better and even restful and we are now both feeling ready for another week :)
I have yet to experience any symptoms of the cold.
Tonight I am making Greta's Chicken Purses to end this post on a completely random note.
Happy Monday!

Winter Wonderland

It snowed in the ATL this weekend. It was glorious....a full day of snowfall which produced a very nice accumulation on the ground. Unfortunatley I missed it. All of it :(
We were in Florida helping my mom move. That experience will live in infamy and is another post for another day, HOWEVER, I was pretty sad I missed out on what may prove to be the only snowfall in my hometown this year.
The good news is when we got home last night there was still snow on the ground and even a family (two parents, three kids, plus dog and cat - can you tell we don't get snow that often?) of snowmen in our neighbor's yard. My dog was loving every minute of it. She's part chow which is an arctic breed so she actually likes the cold.
The point I am trying to get to is this: I want to post pictures of it on my blog! I want to display a picture of my crazy dog shoving her face into the snow and acting so excited you would've thought the white stuff was actually cocaine instead of frozen H2O. I want to put up a picture of the pretty little scene of our street all blanketed in white looking like a postcard. Heck, I'd probably even put up a picture of the snowman family just for kicks. Well, the problem is I am camera impaired. We do own a very nice Sony digital camera and I have a camera phone, but I just never think to take a picture of something while its actually happening. Plus I have no idea how to upload anything from my phone or our camera onto the computer. The second problem could be remedied easily enough with a tutorial from Dustin, but how do I get myself to take the pics at the right moment instead of letting it pass me by and wishing I had a picture later on? Perhaps I will make this my New Years resolution. To try and be mindful of any and every photo opportunity that comes my way...and then to actually take a picture...and THEN to post them on my blog.
Yes! that's it.
All right you heard it here first. Now hold me accountable ok? At least one picture a week.
Happy MLK Day everyone!

Friday thoughts

Fridays are so great. I love the feeling of the coming weekend. There are very few things that can put me in a bad mood on Friday.
That being said, here are a couple things that have been putting me in a good mood on other days of the week too...
PASTE's music sampler - If you're not familiar with the magazine PASTE, I would highly recommend it (ok, I should probably admit that the editor in chief of the mag is a friend of ours). It's basically a running commentary on music and movies...the best part about it is that each issue comes with a CD that has 15 or so newly released songs by a wide variety of artists. My favorite on this months CD is Fine Line by Little Big Town.
PG Tips Tea - It is my new morning beverage of choice. This is mainly because I discovered that I like tea with milk and sugar. I spent a couple years forcing unsweetened green tea down my throat as I drove to work because I was convinced it was healthy. The problem is it kind of tastes like boiled dirt and grass clippings. To be fair, I was drinking pretty cheap green tea bags so it probably tastes better if you buy it imported in loose form or something. In any case I went through a coffee phase this summer but always got a bad case of the jitters around 11am. Then I stumbled into Teavana, a really expensive tea store in the mall and an aggressive sales person convinced me I needed a teapot to brew loose tea leaves or my life would remain incomplete. I bought the pot, but grew tired of the flavored matte tea that I got to brew in it. That's when I discovered PG Tips. It's a pretty basic black tea imported from the UK. It's good with nothing added, but since they drink their tea with milk "across the pond" I decided to give it a try. It's delicious! Add a dash of Splenda and it's heavenly. Now my drive to work is so much tastier...and it's just enough caffeine to give me a boost but not enough to make me twitch. I still like coffee with the hubby on weekends, but I'm really glad I discovered tea to brighten my weekday mornings.

In other news, Kelly has a really funny YouTube clip of an American Idol audition posted today. I really don't like American Idol, but since Kelly said it was funny I watched it...and I was laughing out loud. The best part is the arm swing as he heads into the 2nd verse. I recommend viewing :)
Happy Friday!

If you're so inclined...

I know a few people who could really use some prayer. I've been thinking of them and praying for them throughout each day and since they are on my mind, I thought I would share:

1. My niece, McKaylee, was recently diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. She's doing okay right now, but her mom, Jess (my SIL), is facing the challenge of nursing her back to health (she had a pretty serious operation to drain the fluid off her brain that was caused by the tumor) and watching her closely for any signs that something is developmentally wrong until her next brain scan in a couple months. Such a heavy load! McKaylee is a little angel baby. So cute and sweet, I still can't really wrap my mind around what is happening to her.

2. Someone I am very close to who will remain unnamed is going through a tough period of waiting. She is pretty unsure about what the future holds and is ready for a change in her life but feels stuck and unable to make any changes. Pray for her boyfriend too because he is dealing with some financial stress which is also affecting my friends life. It's just one of those icky situations where something needs to give.

3. My husbands grandmother goes in for surgery next week on an ovarian cancer tumor the size of an orange! She scared and nervous and afraid to hope for the best, so please pray for her too.
Thanks!
Please let me know how I can pray for you...

Input

According to the best seller Strength Finder 2.0 which my husband purchased for me because I got jealous after he read it as a work assignment, my strongest personality attribute is "Input"(basically this means I like to take in facts, words, ideas, and experiences and file them away in my mind). A little bit of a shocker since I've spent the past four years chasing a performing career (which my heart was never really into). I expected at least one of my top five attributes or "strengths" to be something along the lines of entertainment or communication or something remotely extroverted...nope. Here they are in ranking order:
Input
Responsibility
Consistency
Discipline
Empathy
Don't I sound like the most boring person!?
I'm still mulling it over, but it is at least good to get a fresh perspective on what I am best suited for in life/work.
I welcome your feedback.
I'd also recommend getting the book (when you buy it you get a code that you use to take the "strength finder" test online). Then we can compare strengths! :)

Welcome back!

I am back on blogger after a year long hiatus! My old blog was pretty lame so I think this one may suffer the same fate, but at least Greta and I will be in touch ;)
A lot has happened in the past year. We moved to Atlanta, well more specifically Decatur, GA. I really do love it here. It has been a great city for us. There is so much to do and experience. Just today we went to Piedmont Park and walked around midtown and I was reminded of why I love this city - it's funky and diverse and charming and southern all at the same time. Plus theres lots of people....makes for a frustrating commute time but also a lot of "life"going on. I've always been a fan of big cities so I'm happy here. Our actual address is Decatur which is sort of a annex city to Atlanta. It is right outside of midtown but it has it's own incorporation so it is not technically Atlanta.
Anyway Decatur is a wonderful place to live for people like us: young families (currently ours only includes us and the pets) active, like to eat out and shop, interested in culture, etc.
Ok, enough about Decatur.
Here's a picture of us and Jersey, our "first child". Next time I'll have more interesting stuff to say. I hope...