82.

82.

Final phone campaign night of 2009-2010.

And it ended with a prank call.

Success.

81.

81. The day I learned to play checkers, or rather, "can I? no.".

Somehow during childhood I escaped without ever playing checkers. Seriously. I don't know how! I love games. On Monday my sweet friend Rebecca came by Wesley, and while we were chatting she noticed a game box behind me that included checkers. Cue checkers lesson and game-time, and a most fun work break.

Using her terminology, we are both very "defensive" players. I understand that as me running my checkers away from her checkers while we played. The games were also a bit long because of said behavior. The games were also punctuated by me frequently asking "can I do such-and-such" and prompt replies of "no."

Intense!

And I really like checkers now.

Entering the 80s...

Wow, I'm really close to approximately 100 days of photos.

80.

This was a really fun day. I traveled to Mall of Georgia in the morning to meet up with Nutan (p.s. you should follow my blog, Nutan) for a lunch date and some shopping time (had to share the advantages of Gap Give and Get weekend). We parted ways so she could go back to work and I went to help my friend prepare her wedding invitations. So fun!

76 & 77. and return from blogger hiatus!

I haven't forgotten about this blog. I just got distracted for awhile. And for the most part I did not forget about picture taking either. With all of the picture taking, it is easy for me to get a bit frustrated. I often times cannot capture the pic that I want to/dream of (my camera is good, but it's not an SLR), and I often fall into the rut of comparison to my friends who are also doing this project.

When I was in that rut a couple days ago I reflected as to why I was even doing this "project", and I remembered that it wasn't only because I want to get intentional practice in framing pictures. I also am challenged to live in the now. I know that every day has something worth remembering. The abundant life that Jesus talked about isn't something that is 5-years down the road when I'm at a different life-stage, or even 5-months from now when (hopefully) all the family drama has simmered down. It's for the living now. I know that if I want to live in the abundant life I need to actively engage in the life that I'm living today. And, I happen to be taking a picture of it each day. Most of the time.

76.

I took the dogs out for Mary who was jet-lagged, and decided to keep them with me so they wouldn't disturb her. I encountered a problem at my bed time when I realized that I only had one bed, and it is most important that a certain red-haired dog stay contained at night time (you may guess the reasons on your own). So a cord-eating, talky, freedom-running Delilah got to sleep in a laundry basket. I think she enjoyed the open-air "kennel."

77.

Sweet-spots. At the Wes, the second years do "sweet-spots." I'm not going to explain it well, but basically the director over us goes through our strengths, our color personality, etc. and then our colleagues talk about what makes an individual uniquely them. I haven't done mine yet, but it has been SO good doing other people's.

Happy Birthday, Katie D!

This is my good friend Katie D.,

the most intense text-messager I know, and today is her BIRTHDAY! Cue birthday post...

During the first semester of our sophomore year of college, Katie studied abroad in Italy. During that time I started hanging out and making friends with a lot of her friends. When she came back I was always around, we started hanging out because of that, and found ourselves being friends. I'm very thankful.

Pictures from every football game that I attended while in college feature my friend Katie. She's definitely a fan...I went along for the company, atmosphere and festiveness. This is especially evident by that I now fall asleep when I try to watch games if I don't bring a book or something with me to do.

College years continued with lots of hanging out, bonding over Grey's, studying at Starbucks and Borders (she was an English/English Ed major), Wednesday-night Wesley, planned adventures (see below), and more. The pic is below is at a Wesley event; we had similar J.Crew dresses, which definitely warranted a photo. Side-note...Katie is one of the most polished dressers that I know (something that I was re-reminded of as I went through my old pictures looking for pics for this).

We would go on planned adventures together when we were juniors, and one of them was exploring Watkinsville. I find that especially funny these days, as I live there now. I would have a pic from that adventure here, but my old PC computer crash took those photos with it. Here are a few more memories...

Road-tripping to Charleston, SC for Spring Break 2007,

Visiting Katie G. in Virginia in Fall 2008 (peak season for leaves, as it turned out),

Summer 2009 we were bridesmaids in our good friend Katie's beautiful and fun wedding:

Katie is incredible! These days she lives in Atlanta, has an extremely multi-faceted teaching job, owns such a sweet dog, and just started grad school. I love getting to visit her!

Happy Birthday, Katie!

76.

Not really a picture today (a gray day occupied with a headache doesn't lend itself to many picture taking opportunities, and I did not want another picture of Real Simple [the only thing I saw a bird on]), but my post today is still a picture, even if not my own (and hey, it's my blog so I can post as I choose).

Birds on line.

You should go visit the link above. The link is to one of my favorite prints that my good friend Katie made, and posted for sale in her Etsy shop. Katie is incredibly talented. Like, really-really. Her blog, linenlaidfelt details what she makes, has contact information, links, and more. If you need thoughtful gifts, etc. she's a great person to go to. Tell your friends!

Cheep, cheep. Theme Week.

This week's theme flew at me...literally. Sunday I took my pic, not really guessing a theme, and carried on with my day. Cue Monday morning. My furry four-legged alarm clocks start going off pretty early and I drag myself out of bed to take them outside. As I'm waiting for them to finish their business I notice two robins chasing a third. Next thing I know two of the three birds come dive bombing at me, which definitely woke me more than coffee, and probably provided some neighborhood entertainment (if you know how jumpy I am, imagine jumpy me groggy with birds literally flying at me). Then, as I was driving to work (praise the Lord for noon start days, and long lunches with good people) I came across a swarm of turkey vultures feasting on a deer (yes, it's as disgusting as it sounds) in the middle of the road. Hence, the bird theme for the week.

75.

During a DT we ran to my house to check on the dogs, and as we were driving back to Wesley I saw these guys.

74.

Just a little bird print at home. I didn't want a picture of feasting vultures for my pic today. You probably don't either.

73.

While I didn't have my theme decided yet, it still fits with my pic. I went to a baby-shower for a kind friend from church and had such a lovely time with some of my church fam. Babyshower...birds...well, there is that rumor storks bring babies...

Spring Break Part Two

72.

I like to get things done. I really do. And I really like to do things for other people. Mailing packages is one of my faves. But actually getting them to the post office?! Not so easy for me. I don't know why. Case in point: On Saturday I mailed my final Christmas present (which I've had wrapped since before December 25), my friend's birthday card (two weeks late), and my brother's birthday present (only 3 days behind; pretty proud of that one). It's not that I don't have stamps; I just usually pack so much more into the envelope that I have to go have it weighed, buy a mailer, etc. I should probably go start working on my mom's Birthday and Mother's Day gift, so she may actually get it before June.

71.

Forget the magic of Macy's, let's talk about the magic of inventory at Gap. Yes, a 7-midnight shift; what DOESN'T sound magical about that? Kicked off the shift by sizing the women's jean wall (which is more fun than it sounds. Really.), and then counted. Again. And again. And again. Each item in the store had to be counted on each display. Fun, yes? And FYI...on the adult sock displays at Gap there are about 50 pairs or so per row, with about 300-400 per display. Just so you know.

70.

A far, far more appropriate picture from this day would have been from my delightful evening at the Hemingway house, eating dinner with David, Carolyn and their girls (who made dinner so entertaining) and meeting little Meg. But guess who didn't pull out her camera? Yep.

Earlier in the day though, I saw this display of OJ and thought the pattern and colors were fun, so I did grab a pic then.

69.

I really like reusable grocery bags (a lot). They carry SO much weight. And Publix makes pretty ones (seriously).

After taking some with me to South Africa last summer (which proved to be an EXCELLENT idea), I don't plan to travel without them. These in the pic haven't traveled outside Watkinsville yet, but they will!

Spring Break (Week 11)

Spring Break 2K10.

68.

Beautiful day, beautiful sunset.

67.

I made a day-by-day plan (with room for additions) for spring break. Surprised?

66.

The start of spring break on Sunday (though technically it started for me on Thursday since Wesley was off of work) was marked my Mary leaving to go to ISRAEL. I was hanging out with her before she left and Petey waned to play. Play, or maybe just channel his angst of Mary leaving into a more active pastime before settling down to snuggle with her before she left.

Finishing out the week.

Friday morning I traveled out to babysit the Hemingway girls the morning their new sister made her arrival. They live out-a-ways a bit in an incredible old home, and I had some long stretches of road ahead of me on my way out there. During my drive, I came across the sign below. I've seen cattle crossing signs before, but I've never actually seen them as if they've been used recently. Awesome.

Week 10.

No theme week this week. I didn't have the attention to detail this week to even attempt it.

Isn't it incredible that it's only week 10 of this year (plus or minus one; I do note that I may have miscounted when looking at the calendar)?! It feels like it's so much later.

Day 63.

Babysitting endeavors included building the best Lego-strucure that I've ever built.

I was really proud of myself. Yes, I know that those are blocks for the under 7 crowd. But I don't care. I built it. It had levels. It didn't fall. And we even added occupants to the "castle" (I didn't call it that, but the child I was babysitting did).

Day 62.

In addition to working at Wesley I work at different jobs throughout the Athens area to raise support. Now, I can say that my working scope extends to Ila, Georgia.

Ila. I don't even know how to say it. One of my regrets is that I didn't have time to snap a pic in their "downtown." Or that I missed a shot of the video store which also offered tanning beds, and maybe even live bait. However, the drive there was incredibly serene. Trees. Lots of trees.

Day 61.

Where I work at is really fun. Seriously. It's one of the "core values." At work today I organized a "Leadership Fun Day," which turned out to be, really...well...fun, for lack of a better word. Also at work today I saw the remaining rocks that were waiting to be adopted, from when the ArtSpeak Ministry painted rocks and sold them as a fundraiser. Yes, you read that right. Rocks were painted, sold, and purchased (or "adopted"). Like I said...fun.

I call this picture the "rock orphanage"

Day 60.
I wore my most beautiful Christmas present from my dear friend Katie today. I got to the package pretty late at night, and it took all of will-power to not squeal with delight when I opened up this necklace. Katie is incredibly thoughtful in everything, and the purchase of this necklace from Etsy supported funds going to Haiti relief work (Katie also has a shop on Etsy for the incredible handmade books she makes; a link to her blog linenlaidfelt is to the right of this article--I highly recommend checking it out!).

58. 57.

Day 58 was also filled with crafty tasks...tying ribbons onto baby shower invites!

The task certainly made the hours fly by while baby-sitting until late (especially since the child's bedtime is around 7:45ish.)

On day 57 I spent a lot of quality time with a friend in Athens. When I finished working at her house on Friday I stayed after to help her prepare for a massive banquet she was organizing on the following day. Before launching into a few hours of napkin folding we went and ran some errands. In her car she has that dual-heating option, and it cracked me up to see the difference in our heating preference. I'm definitely the person on the right.

Day 56...life happened, pictures didn't.

Day 54 & Day 55, or why I hate photographing food.

54.
Kinda fell off the blog front for a while, and nearly off the pic-a-day effort too. My kitchen theme of last week demonstrated the extent to which good lighting and different cameras are needed to get GOOD food shots. I was frustrated with nearly every pic I tried to take. Black coffee didn't look deep when I took a pic...it looked like shiny-pavement or tar. Pics of smoothies looked like something I never wanted to drink again. This pic is of my two morning beverages of choice--good coffee (the quality of coffee makes a HUGE difference when you drink it black) & a smoothie (frozen strawberries, frozen blueberries, OJ & yogurt. No more, no less).

55.

The brownie pie that I made for my small group and to give out as thank yous photographed slightly better than my beverage picture. This was one of my favorite things that I've baked in a long time. It just came out really, really well. Texture, taste, appeal...all A+'s. Thanks, Betty Crocker cookbook!