Swimsuit shopping?

She wants what???

I took a picture of Kat's favorite suit to show Daddy. He took that one for me to send back to her. Hehe!

Funny stuff!

~n~

A Lizard in the Oven!

Not just in the oven - in the oven door! I removed the front piece of glass to find him behind the second pane. Luckily, we were able to get him out safely and surprisingly easily without any injuries. :) (Pay no attention to the grime! You're supposed to be looking at the lizard! Haha!)

~n~

Note Worthy

I suppose I'm only allowed one a day, but my project = my rules, so this one deserves an honorable mention!

"Fast Food Friday" has become something of a tradition in the Foster home. It gives me a night off from cooking, and gives us all a taste of what we're NOT missing the rest of the week. ;)

Tonight I went a little outside of the norm and splurged on Chinese food.

I felt it highly appropriate that my fortune was aimed directly at me. Especially considering that I murdered my diet tonight to get it.

;)
~n~

Every day a smile.

At the end of the day, this is the one. There's nothing spectacular about the picture itself, but the scene is what gets me.

I went to the farmers market today and loaded up on tons of fruit, a couple plants for the front yard, and even stopped by Half Price and found something new to read. The weather was spectacular.

When I came home and unloaded everything, I thought my husband would appreciate the display of fruit that awaited his (late, as usual) arrival. So I attempted a text him a picture.

The only thing missing was his drool! Every day this darn dog does something to make us laugh or smile. Today is no exception!

And so, Tobi officially makes his first appearance (of many, I'm sure) as my captured moment of the day.

Happy Friday :)

~n~

Sunshine

It's been chilly and cloudy for days. And for days it's been a struggle to maintain any acceptable amount of energy. Today made up for them all! Not only was the sun shining, but the temperature was perfect!

As I walked through the living room I noticed the sun shining through the Japanese Maple in the front yard. (We love that tree. There's actually a slightly humorous story behind it.) And the leaves glowed, making it look so healthy and vibrant. It will be a happy tree. ;)

So today's picture is about sunshine. The sunshine that coursed through my veins today and created such a wonderful state of mind.

I love days like this.
*happy sigh*
:)

~n~

365 Day Challenge

I'm writing this from my phone so it won't be as long, or as detailed as my blogs tend to be.

I was checking out my Facebook newsfeed this evening and came across a question to my fellow photographers in the community... Have you ever attempted or completed a 365 day challenge? Why, no. I have not!

And so my wheels start to turn again...

Now, knowing myself as well as I do, :), something tells me that I won't complete the entire 365 posts, but I'm intrigued enough to try it out. I'd like to approach it, however, from a non-professional perspective, and make it more personal. After all, this IS my personal blog!

And so it will be this...

One picture a day of anything, iPhone and iPod pictures only. Creativity is welcomed, of course, so apps are allowed and encouraged.

This will begin a (hopefully) daily account of the happenings and perspectives in and of my life.

And there it is! Short and sweet!

I hope it lasts!! (Take your bets! Haha!)

* Today's picture is the closest thing to me that describes me: A view of my bedside table. Here you will find a large stack of travel guides, a book of word find puzzles, a concrete brochure, and a book that I've barely started.

~n~

A new year brings New Cheese.

I haven't written in a while. It's come to mind several times, but every time I do there's either nothing worth mentioning, no access to a computer (don't ask), or too much to even know where to begin!

So a brief recap of the holidays...

Thanksgiving went less than perfect, but in the end turned out to be a pretty nice evening. JD's dad and brother missed out, which was a true disappointment, but Douglas did stop by (a new addition to the Thanksgiving crowd :)  ) and I actually had time to sit and talk quite a bit with Michelle and Kyle.
The keg was a flop. I think it would had been more successful with better beer and better weather, but neither were within my control, so what to do. Lesson learned.

What was perfect? Christmas Eve! Let me tell you! I ended up getting Douglas and David to cover my shift that day. We stayed in our PJ's all day, colored on a poster that Katrina had given me at work the day before (while Kat played Sims 3, her Christmas Eve present), enjoyed a fire, and munched on garbage food all day. It was the coziest, happiest, most peaceful day we've had in the longest time!

Christmas day was a nice change as well. It was just the four of us that morning for the first time. And it was wonderful! I have to say that it was the best Christmas that we'd had in recent memory! We opened our presents, showered and made breakfast just as Matt and Maggie showed up to deliver their presents to the girls. We stopped by Mom's for a couple of hours and visited with Erin and her brood. Then ended the day with dinner at IHOP, a first for all of us! And as IHOP seems the last place to be on Christmas day, the four of us had a wonderful time together. And we all enjoyed one another, whole-heartedly. Wonderful.

As the new year passed, my restless nature seemed to persist more than ever. It's been kneading at my brain for the past few months now, but the last few weeks have been torture. The brainless, repetition of this job is slowly bleeding out any compassion that may remain inside me for the human race. Every day the IQ of these customers equals less and less. What am I doing with my life? How the heck did I get here?

Oh yeah, I remember. It was the hell phase of 2007. I'd had my fill and needed a break from the stress. I took this brainless job on purpose! What? It was supposed to be temporary!! And here I am... three years later?? Why?

Well, one thing that I can say about this stupid, stupid job, is that I have met some pretty cool people over the last three years. I know more people by name (or drink) now then I may have known throughout my entire career in construction! I often times run into them when I'm out shopping. In fact, I dropped Kodee off at a friend's house a few weeks ago and her mom was a regular! Crazy!! And as unsociable as I claim to be, I genuinely enjoy knowing these people. It's really something!

I was talking to one of these customers on a slow, slow holiday weekday morning. He had recently quit his 75k per year job to "find himself". So clearly, we had quite a bit to relate to. A couple of days later he brought me a book (that he made a special trip to buy just for me) called "Who Moved My Cheese?". I had read this book nearly a decade ago, but didn't remember much about it anymore. I took it home, determined to force myself to read it over the weekend. (As much as I love to read, I just haven't been able to commit myself to a new book in months.) I wanted not only to appear grateful for this thoughtful gift, but to discuss my thoughts upon my return to work on Tuesday.

It sat on the coffee table all weekend. For one reason or another I never picked it up, until Monday. The family had finally left the house quiet and at peace. This was my perfect opportunity. I sat down, forced the iPhone out of reach, and committed.

The next day I turned in my two-week notice.

It was all I needed, a basic perspective. A story about mice and cheese.

The stagnant, day to day grind is gone now. The excitement and fear about what's in store for me has awakened me. I feel alive again with possibility and a new found sense of freedom. It's not the freedom of the unemployed, but the freedom of choice.

I can choose my future from here. I can choose to be... not a Barista. Okay. So, I'm not sure where to go from here. I just know that I feel good about where I'm going! I'm going to find New Cheese!!!

So now I have two weeks left at Starbucks. It's official! (To my co-workers: If you really love me and are wondering what you could do to express your love... Casi Ciello!! I want  your markout this week! haha! It's never been a better time to stock up on good coffee!!)

I'm pretty sure that I won't have the ability to hold it together that last day. My coworkers have really meant a lot to me over the last few years. Douglas, especially... we've come so far!

Well, I suppose I should close this up. I think I'll post a summary of the book to follow.

Until next time...
~n~