Update

So, my camera battery charger is "missing" and I haven't really wanted to post without having some photos to show. But it has simply been too long. Bullet point update:

- Here is a really crappy photo of my new fridge. Drew got this for me for our 3 year anniversary! I was only able to snap one photo before my camera died, and I tried to edit it the best I could, but without photoshop at home, it didn't help much. But you can see how beautiful the fridge is! Can you believe Drew and I have been married for THREE years?!? I know to some of you, this isn't that big of a deal, but it seems like quite an accomplishment to me that we are still happy with each other and still want to spend the rest of our lives together after 3 years of marriage. If I could offer 3 pieces of advice to anyone getting married (one of each year, haha), it would be this: Tell each other you love each other every day, whether or not you feel like it; have a hobby that does not involve the other person - something you can do by yourself, something that helps you have your own identity instead of relying on the other person to complete you; and have fun! Don't take life/marriage so seriously.

- I am sick... again. Last weekend I took my students to Tyler for the District Art competition. We placed first!! As soon as I got home at around 7pm, I got into bed and crumbled. I am fairly certain I had the flu. I was lucky that Monday was presidents day, but I even had to take Tuesday as a sick day because I felt so horrible. Now, I have taken Tuesday and Wednesday off of this week too! I am sick and tired of being sick! I feel well enough to sit up at the computer today, and I might actually go take a shower (ha!), but I still don't feel like talking much, and that is kind of a necessity if you are a teacher! All my M's sound like B's because my nose is so stopped up. I went to the doctor yesterday and they just said it was an upper respritory infection. Of course, nothing you can do for that except sleep and drink lots of fluids. I'm tired of fluids!

- Diane is coming in town this weekend. I am really looking forward to seeing her, but hoping that I get well so that I can clean this house a bit! We are planning on going to Canton on Saturday! I don't know why, but I really love Canton.

- Week after next is Interim Term at school. I am taking a group of 13 students to several different museums around DFW. I am excited to get to go on tours to all these wonderful museums!

- The week after that is Spring Break!! Drew and I want to go do something fun, but haven't planned anything yet. Hopefully we can find something to go do outside of Dallas - we both really really need a break!

Nyquil is clogging up my brain right now and I can't think of anything else. Maybe if I think of more things, I'll actually post again this week!

Baby!!

Before you freak out, no, I am not pregnant. But I do have 2 friends in my Sunday school class that are. And it is about that time... baby shower time. And what better time to have a baby shower than spring (well, almost spring).

In a couple of weeks, our Sunday school girls are throwing a baby shower for Chastity. She is having TWINS! Here is a "diaper cake" (or "diaper tower" as Drew likes to call it) that I made for her shower. It took a while to figure out how many diapers should go on each tier, but with some awesome engineering skills from Drew, I think it turned out great. I was going to try to do a Pooh themed "cake", but the selection of yellow ribbon really stunk, and I saw this really neat pink ribbon and decided to go with that. Amy, if I do one of these for you, I need a swatch of your fabric, hehe.

I don't know what happened, but sometime in my transition from child to adult, I shot the Procrastinator gene out the window. I guess that is actually kind of cool, but I think I'll take the "cake" over to Lynda's anyway so that the cats don't get tempted. They thought the empty diaper box was really sweet, and I don't want them to go searching for that smell! (clean baby diapers smell nice)

If anyone else would like a diaper cake, I am pretty much an expert now, so, let me know!

Photography Project

This is an example I made for an assignment I gave my photography students. I of course, used my favorite thing to photograph - my house! Thought you all might like to see it and do this yourself if you so choose:

First of all, you have to take a TON of photos of one object all at the same time. Stand in one location and snap photos in different angles and make sure you get all of your subject matter. Do not zoom while you are doing this - you want all of the photos to be the same distance from the object.

Once you have all the photos, open them up in Photoshop and create a new document that is quite large (if your photos are sized at 4x6, 300 dpi, then you can make your new document in photoshop 11x17, 300 dpi with a white background - you can always resize it later by cropping or changing the Image Size once everything is together).

Choose one photo that seems to be in the center of the object, and then drag the rest of the images into the frame. Move them how you want and if you need to rotate them to make it work, go to Edit -> Transform -> Rotate to rotate only that photo.

When you are done, you can edit the levels and resize.

Hope someone else has fun with this project!

Inauguration

I was very pleased today to learn that our entire high school and middle school would be called to assembly to watch the Inauguration of President Obama. I believe it was something that these kiddos really needed to get to see - a moment in history. A defining moment for our country.

Political party aside, I would like to take a second to express my beliefs regarding our nation... under God. Our Nation was founded on a belief that there is a God - simply read the Declaration of Independence:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

I was incredibly downhearted to read online all of the criticism of the Invocation before the swearing in of the VP and President. Rick Warren, pastor at Saddleback Church, as well as author of "A Purpose Driven Life" gave the invocation at the ceremony. His prayer was uplifting and all encompassing - going as far as to be thankful for all of the "well meaning people" or something to that effect. Why is it, that I am reading now that "Prayer has no place at a public gathering"? This is the swearing in of the 44th president of the United States and there have been prayers each previous Inauguration! Why was his prayer so offensive? Was it the fact that he prayed in "Jesus Name"?

I don't think that I can answer this question, but I do know that I too am praying for our Nation, and our new President. I pray that he really observes history and sees that nations that turn away from God crumble. I pray that he has health and strength during this time, but more importantly, I pray that he has Wisdom. Proverbs 29:18 says that "where there is no vision, the people perish." I pray that his plan for us would be guided by God so that we do not perish, but thrive. I pray that there would be a continual growth toward a nation where race and gender are not the defining characteristics of a person. Yes, I do believe that "religion" is important - but that word has so many negative connotations. More so, I believe that a relationship with God is important, and in the end, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that there is a God and that he does still move in this world.

Dinner

The other night for dinner, I made home made egg rolls. They turned out so awesomely, I had to take some photos and blog about it. I got the recipe from Food Network, which I have been watching a LOT of lately. There is always something good on Food Network! Anyway, one of Drew and my favorite shows is Guy's Big Bite - he always makes some awesome looking meals and most of them are pretty easy. So, here is the recipe if you want to make your own, but feel free to change it up a bit like I did!

Chicken Avocado Egg Rolls

YUM!!

Untitled

I have come to the conclusion that I fear blogging when I have been gone too long. I think I saw somewhere when I logged on that my last post was 3 weeks ago. That is absolutely pathetic, but the truth is... when so much has happened, I don't even know where to begin, so, I just put off writing about it until it has been far too long. So, I'll list. Maybe with a few interspersed photos.

Where do I start?

- Christmas was wonderful. I got MUCH more than I ever deserved, and feel very blessed and spoiled at the same time. My mom and dad got me a tripod for my camera and some Macro lenses that I seriously can not wait to experiment with. It needs to warm up outside!! Drew gave me a gift certificate to Make so that I can take a class on screen printing (sooo excited about that), and Mike and Diane got the nail on the head with several gifts that I have been contemplating buying for myself for quite a while. Probably the most unexpected gift was from Grandma Smithee. She is making (almost finished) Drew and I a quilt... she is AMAZING, and I will post photos as soon as I have it in my hands.

- Getting the quilt for Christmas has inspired me to redo a room to make as Drew and my new bedroom. It is going to be awesome. Hard to describe though, so, again, I'll post photos when I get it all done.

- For Christmas from me and his parents, Drew got a new gun. So, no one come rob our house because we are armed and Drew is a really good shot. Here is Drew opening his gift:
And here is Drew shooting his gift:
- I recently signed myself up to take a Pottery class at a local community college. I am really excited about this, but hoping I have not overcommitted myself for the semester. That class is Monday and Wednesday nights, but on top of that, I am also helping with sets for the Spring Musical, taking care of TAPPS district and state competitions at school, working on the Fine Arts Festival, and directing the art show for Oak Cliff Earth Day. Most everything happens in April, so, I guess I should rest up before then, hehe. Oh well, i did that all last year and survived, I'm sure I can do it again.

- I have also recently joined a Crafting Group called Oak Cliff Craft Collective. Here is the logo I designed to use for the time being while we are getting started. What do you think?
Hmm... what else to talk about? Well, Drew just got home from work and I lost my train of thought, so, for now I will sign off. Hopefully more sooner than 3 weeks from now!

Some funny photos...

First Family Christmas gathering of the year. Check out some photos here:

A Sister for Grace: Some funny photos...