Day 365

This morning, Paul was taking a shower and thought it would be fun to put his little handprints all over the inside of the shower door. I thought it made for a great picture for the last day of 2009.

And this picture brings us to the end of 2009. I have to say that I didn't quite do what I intended at the beginning with this project, but I do feel like doing the blog has helped me with improving my photography skills. I found myself looking for things to do just so I could take a picture. I also found myself up at night trying to find something worthwhile to take a picture of for the day.

I'm thrilled to have made it all the way through the year with this daily picture blog. I'm also really looking forward to 2010 because I'm planning to go a different direction and I'm pretty excited (and nervous) about starting tomorrow.

Day 353

This morning the boys had gymnastics, and since we were out of the house by 10:30 with no obligations, we decided to make a visit to the zoo. It was pretty cold and rainy this morning, so after seeing some of the animals outside, we decided to stick with the indoor exhibits.

I snagged a picture of this little guy, but forgot to get what his name is. I thought he was cute.

Day 347

Paul and I took a Christmas cookie making class this afternoon. He had a ton of fun rolling dough, pressing out cookies, rolling balls, frosting, and sprinkling sugar. He also did a fair bit of taste testing along the way. One of my favorite things about this class is that it was at one of the local wholesome food stores, so a lot of the ingredients were natural and added healthy elements to the delicious treats.

Day 344

Tonight we had a fantastic opportunity to see Cirque de la Symphonie, which is Christmas music played beautifully by the symphony with cirque performances during select songs. It was an amazing and fantastic treat! We had a great view from our first row, cheap seats in the third tier. It was so fun and a very nice evening out.

Day 338

Tonight was the night of the annual Women's Christmas Dinner at my parent's church. We had great entertainment from The Three Wisemen. It was so fun to see them in concert again. It was also an awesome night of fellowship, laughter, and fun. I enjoy being able to catch up with everyone.

The photo today is of the little gift from our hostess, my mom. It was this cute little silver angel and you can see her packaging in the background.

Day 323

A couple of months ago, I was presented with an opportunity to attend the midnight showing for a movie I was really looking forward to. When you add in the fact that we'd be viewing the movie in a private, luxury theater (complete with recliners and seat-side service), then it certainly seemed like an opportunity I could not pass up.

I have to say that based on my viewing of the lobby at 11:30 tonight, the experience will totally live up to my expectations.

Day 304

This little boy was able to get his first piece of real chocolate to eat all on his own (at least I'm pretty sure it's his first). He enjoyed it immensely.

Day 302

The to-do list was long today (as it always is), but instead of tackling yet another project this afternoon, my oldest and I decided to go fishing.

After he got up from his rest this afternoon, momma made some hot cocoa and broke out the Go Fish! cards. We played a couple of rounds and then tried out some Crazy 8s. I think he only let me win one game out of three.

Day 257

I was so excited to receive the components for Use The Muse III this afternoon!!

This color pallet is way outside of what I normally work with, but it's so perfect for fall. I can't wait to be inspired and get started working. At this point, I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I might try stitching again, but part of me wants to incorporate some of the metal working techniques I've been learning lately.

I've got about a month to figure it out, and unfortunately, I probably won't be able to start in earnest until after the beginning of the month. It's a busy time of year, but I hope to have something to submit by the October 19th deadline.


This is probably one of the worst pictures I could have taken of this kit, but I didn't realize it until the picture was downloaded. You'll just have to wait for better ones.

Day 256

My jewelry partner-in-crime and I met up at the Northwest Bead Society Bead Bazaar today and spent a good four hours exploring the booths and chatting with our favorite beading ladies. Last year I didn't buy anything, but I made up for it this year with purchases at three different shops.


I'm very excited about all of my purchases, but what I love the most are the glass pieces in the upper left corner. These are from a company called Loot!, and made by a local gal who has been doing glass work for over 11 years. She's found a way to take art glass that cannot be recycled and turn it into these gorgeous pieces. I'm currently planning to make a charm type bracelet, and I can't wait to play around with it.

Day 255

We took the boys to the circus this morning, and it was a ton of fun. I have never been to the circus, so I think I was nearly as excited as they were.

It was a good show full of loads of animals, acrobatics, and silly antics. I was surprised by how many of the stereotypical things of the circus that they actually did like shooting a person (or two) out of a canon.

The photo for today is of the elephants in one of those classic circus poses. Sadly, after this my camera died, so I missed out on pictures of the tigers.

Day 223

We had a meet-and-greet with the other parents and preschoolers this afternoon. There have actually been several of them this summer, but this is the first one we've been able to attend because Paul has quite a few summer activities that have conflicted. This one was coordinated more by the school than by other parents.

It was really nice to get to meet the other kids from Paul's preschool and the other parents. Sadly, I introduced myself as the parent they'll probably never see since grandma will be dropping Paul off and dad will be taking him home. It's nice that we are able to make such arrangements, but I'll miss being able to know the parents better.

That's Paul running in the green striped shirt.

Day 211

I've raided about all aspects of my beading stash to work on a new project. I have a vision, so we'll see how it goes. I got all these pieces out and was playing around and thought I'd just take a picture for fun. I really, really love that I'm planning around the Fluorite I've been collecting for years.

Day 205

I've been playing the game Sally's Spa on my iPhone off and on for about a month now. I beat it about a week after I made the huge $1 investment, and then I've been replaying the levels to try to get perfect scores. Tonight I decided to start it over again from the beginning.

The basics of the game are that you are Sally, a spa owner, and you need to take care of all of your customers with facials, massages, pedicures, etc. Each customer has a different demand level.

My favorite is one of the first customers called Busy Mom. The text says, "with all the stress of balancing work and family, it's important to find time to relax". Then the game tells you she's an Average Tipper and Very Patient.

I like the Busy Mom because I am one. It cracks me up because any time I go in to get a pedicure, they are sure to get you seated quickly and are always very efficient. In my mind I'm thinking, "what's the rush? This is some time in my life when no one is making any demands". I think I like this game so much because it makes me dream of going to the spa myself. :)

Day 196

It was crazy hair day today at VBS, and this is my oldest with his "crazy" hair. It's actually kind of fun. I should do it like this every day, but he was not the biggest fan of having momma put gel in his hair.

Day 180

It was such a gorgeous day today that I thought it would be fun to take the boys out to the park for a picnic dinner. One of my coworkers recommended this park, which is not too far from our house. It has this small lake, an awesome play structure, and a great set of paths for Paul to ride his bike. We'll have to go again when the boys can spend more time playing.

Day 170

I'm pretty excited because today in the mail I received a fun package!

I entered a beading contest called Use the Muse and the kit showed up today. The challenge of the contest is to take a kit and use the components to make a piece of wearable art. The only real guideline is that you have to use the secret component and incorporate it into your design. When I read it was a Lillypilly piece, then I knew this was the contest for me.

I'm actually pretty nervous about it because there is not a lot of time to come up with a design and create it. The contest ends on July 18th, and with my hubby out of town for several weeks, it's going to be very hard for me to find time to do this, but I'm going to try. I've already started sketching out some ideas. It might end up being a fun piece just for me that I complete six years down the road. We'll see how it goes.

Day 161

Tonight we took the kids bowling. The school rented the whole 10-lane alley for two hours. Part of the party package was to put the black lights on and play some groovy music.

I had a couple of artistic shots of my shoes and my purse that I liked. But then, I bowled a 145 and had to use that picture today because that's probably the best I've ever bowled. I had to quit while I was ahead and take Matt back to the resort for bed, or I might have really put the other chaperones to shame. ;)