Photos of the Week: Week 3

Well, this week I became more familiar with my little pink camera (remember my discovery last week of the"flash off"button)! I am amazed at the great settings that this cheap-o point and shoot actually has....and more amazed that until I started these challenges, I never knew about them! So, with that intro, I give you....Week 3!

Theme: In The Kitchen

I don't have a super cool kitchen. And I don't have awesome wine glasses....although that's been on my "want" list for a while now! Lucky for me, my friend Brett-Brett does have these things, so I snapped a few shots of his gorgeous wine rack cabinet while I was there last!

Theme: Macro

Well, I'll be honest....had to do some research to find out what this means! Apparently in photography, a macro shot is one that is a close up of a very small subject. The idea is for the object to be almost life-sized in the photo. This assignment, and my research, made me learn that my camera actually has a macro setting! Who knew?

Theme: A Day In The Life

The life of a lawyer is not super glam. Nothing like you'd see on tv! So, I decided that sharing a little piece of my office with you would give you some insight into what my day consists of!

Theme: Dawn

I'll be honest. I saw this and my first thought was, "Crap. I'm going to have to get up early for this!" But, turns out, the sun doesn't rise here until approximately 7:13 am. Because I learned that dawn is the period just before sunrise, I took my picture at about 7:08. :) Too bad I didn't look out the window last week--this would have been perfect for Carnation Pink! And shame on me for not opening up my blinds to see this every morning!

Family Farm Friday #39: Even on the Other Side of the World

"I suppose it's where your roots are." ~Scott McKenzie

After a couple week hiatus, I am glad to announce that Family Farm Friday is back! :)

Family farms are a special thing. Even on the other side of the world.

I was reading an article last week about a man who gave up an exciting life of travel to return home to his family farm in New Zealand. When questioned about his "sacrifice" he gave the reporter the quote you see at the beginning of this blog. Even when he left, he felt a lure back to his family's farm.

I know exactly what he is talking about. Every time I go home for a weekend or a holiday, I hate leaving. Every single time the following thought goes through my head. "I could just quit my job, sell my house, exchange my car for a truck and move out here and never leave!" So far, I have not acted on this impluse.....but maybe some day. :)

It's funny to me that Scott from New Zealand and I can both share this attitude, even though we live in different worlds and we have never met. I guess maybe the key is that we don't actually live in different worlds. We live in the same world---the world of a family farm. I think when you raised on a family farm, there is just something in your blood that is different from people who were raised in different places.

And whatever it is that gets in your blood is apparently the same even on the other side of the world.

Throwback Thursday #46: Book the Cruise

"Why do we love the sea? It is because it has some potent power to make us think things we like to think." ~Robert Henri

For just about as long as I can remember, it had been a running joke in our house that anytime we got or saved a small sum of money (i.e. a 50 cent off coupon, or a royalty check for $1.42), someone in the family would say, "Well book the cruise!"

Well after my first year of law school, I literally booked that cruise! Trust me, after a year of tortue at law school, I deserved a little break! I mean, imagine going from 24 hours a day of staring at law books to this:

That summer before I started my job, Cousin Whitney and I headed for a 5 day cruise to Mexico. This was the first time for both of us to be out of the country and we were pretty darn excited! Our parents were less excited when they learned there would be no cell phone access the entire time! My two home-body parents shudder any time I mention trips where they can't call to make sure I'm not dead in some foreign ditch. (Turns out, there was no need to worry because I met this nice (or creepy) Mexican cop who liked blonde American girls).

Now, please understand that I'm the person most people hate to go on vacation with because I feel like if we spent the money to get somewhere, by golly we are going to bust our rears to see everything that we can possibly cram into that time. The cruise was pretty much the opposite of this---we spent the money to lay by the pool and stuff our faces--and we busted our rears to do this every day! :)

So we set sail from Galveston (after Cousin Kevin was kind enough to drive us to the boat from the airport!) for Mexico. Our first day was a day at sea, so we just chilled on the ship. If you've never been on a cruise, there is SO much to do on a cruise ship that it's just unreal. Here are a few pictures!

This was us headed to a show...WHY was I wearing long sleeves on a cruise ship??

We spent most nights at a karaoke bar...it was awesome! This family put on full routines that they must have practiced all day. And, true to bucket list form, I did karaoke....and was not good, but got that checkmark!

The second day we stopped at the port in Progresso, Mexico. This is a stop you could miss when planning your cruise---it's just not much of a touristy destination. We did a little walking around town and went on some sort of Corona Beach Party for an excursion. We chose this because we are both cheap and there was free margaritas....unlike the expensive ones we'd been drinking on the boat! Plus it sounded better than hiking around in the heat at Aztec ruins. (I'd like to say that my grown up self now would go see the historic ruins.....I think that would be a lie. Unless they were serving free margaritas too.)

Then the next day was a great stop at Cozumel. Loved it there!! Beautiful water, so many fun stores and restaurants and bars....I wish we could have stayed a week!

We went on a great catamaran excursion where we cruised on the boat, then went snorkeling with the fishies, and ended up at a party on a private beach. Not too shabby! And snorkeling in the ocean was another bucket list checkmark for me!

Anyway, I hope that you enjoyed the little look back at our cruise....I didn't realize until I did my decade in review post that I had never blogged about it before! I would totally encourage you to go on a cruise at some point in your life. I know that we had a complete blast!

Politics Aside

"In the fleeting time we have on this earth, what matters is not wealth or status or power or fame, but rather how well we have loved and what small part we have played in making the lives of other people better." ~President Obama, Eulogy in Tucson

I haven't blogged about the tragedy that occurred in Arizona a couple of weeks ago. I didn't feel like I had words or thoughts that were worth sharing. Until I watched the memorial service for the dead last week. Now, I am not a political person. In fact, I dislike politics. I never vote party line and I don't honestly know if any of the politicians out there today have views that are similar to my own. But I ask that you put politics aside today and watch (or you can read the transcript of) the eulogy that President Obama gave at the memorial service. (It's a three part video, so stick with it at the first commercial).

He mourned the fallen, thanked the heros, and prayed for those fighting to survive. He quoted scripture, and asked for prayers. He reminded us that the dead were part of our family, our American family, and that although we may not have known them personally, we see ourselves in them all. It was faithful, and moving, and inspirational. And in times like this, politics aside, I think that is what our country needs.

What About Those...

"Grant that I may not pray alone with the mouth; help me that I may pray from the depths of my heart.” ~Martin Luther

At Mass on Sunday, the priest said something that went right to my heart. Don't get me wrong, I really do try and pay attention and take to heart everything said in church, but sometimes I think that God lets certain things really hit us so that we pay attention.

The priest spoke of praying. And he said, "When you are praying, don't just think about yourself, your family and your friends. What about those for whom no one prays?" Wow. The thought of no one praying for a person just breaks my heart. I know that I'm beyond blessed to have a number of people in my life who pray for me. I, in turn, pray for a number of people in my life. But can you imagine being a person that had no one to pray for you?

I've been focusing this new year on praying more. This video blog by Father Barron (ND Friend's boss) inspired me. But for all of the praying I have done, not just over this year so far, but over my life, I don't think I have ever specifically prayed for "those for whom no one prays.

That is about to change. I'm going to be adding them to those I pray for daily. It's a simple gesture, but I feel like it is one that could make a world of difference.

Meet the Cast Monday #3: Baby Cousin

If you've read the blog for a while, you've read before about Baby Cousin. Baby Cousin is the son of Cousin Kevin (for those of you who may be keeping a family tree). He solidified his place as star athlete of the family when he was drafted out of high school by the San Francisco Giants. Lucky for us, he is in the off season right now and had time to answer a few questions.

Introducing Baby Cousin......

Describe a normal day of playing minor league baseball:
A normal game day when pitching includes grabbing lunch (Subway) at 12:30, show up at the stadium by 2, throw on your batting practice jersey and shorts, head out to the field and go through team stretch and play a little catch, then head back up to the clubhouse to grab some pre-game food, rest, and get your head right, for a 7:15 start usually be back on the field at 6:30 to stretch again and get your arm ready for the game, at 7 start getting ready throwing to the catcher in the bullpen, National anthem on the field and Gametime!!

What has been the coolest baseball-related experience you've had?
Having the opportunity to visit the childrens hospital in Los Angeles. I was there for the Aflac All-American game and one of our afternoon schedules included a visit with the kids downtown L.A. It was the most eye opening event i've ever had. One of those memories i'll always hold on to. {Seriously, how sweet is this kid??}

If you weren't playing professional ball, what would you want to do?
Well at this age I'd be in college still, but other than that spend my fall/winter slaving at a certain company called BigLittle Fudge! {You might remember BigLittle--that is Cousin Kevin's fudge company that was featured as my December giveaway}

What's your favorite food?
Midge and David's chile relleno casserole, mmmm or David's ribsteak with queso and Lemonade Pie for dessert.

What's the fastest your pitch has been clocked at?
96 or 97 not too sure
Have you ever had your heart broken?
Fortunately, have not. {My guess is that Baby Cousin is the heartbreaker!}

What's one (or more) item(s) on your bucket list?
Top of the list is skydiving, Going to have to sneak it past Kevin as he has informed me it better be after he's dead. {We should talk about this....I may be interested in joining you...over Cousin Kevin's dead body, of course.}

Photos of The Week: Week 2

So far I am LOVING this photography challenge thing. I carry my camara with me in my purse all the time now, and I find myself looking for photos in my every day life. It seems like looking for photo-worthy moments is something that everyone should do all the time, so I'm glad that this challenge has gotten me on that track.

I like it so much, that I have added a couple of new challenges to my list....which means more weekly photos for you to see! Here are my pictures for the week:

Theme: I Was Inspired

This past week, I got two awesome packages from my girl friends, The Bride and The Crazy Canadian. Both of the contents were inspiring, so I knew I had to shoot them together for this theme! The Bride sent me a calendar, made of photos that she took over the last year. She got into photography not too long ago and, as I wrote about previously, inspired me to try these challenges! The second item in the picture is the audio version of The Crazy Canadian's book. She had aspirations of writing this book for about 10 years, and it was published in 2011. Safe to say, she inspires me to go after my dreams, because they can come true!

Theme: Ship

When I saw this theme, I almost had a panic attack. Shockingly enough, there are not many ships here where the desert meets the mountains. So I spent a while racking my brain, and then remembered that I still had the luggage tag from the cruise I took a few years ago (Throwback Thursday blog on that coming soon!) Phew! I drug that suitcase out of the closet and threw in my passport to spice it up a little. Crisis averted.

Theme: Breakfast

The photo challenge that didn't have a theme has now come up with an optional theme list. So I'm going to do my best to follow their themes. I snapped this picture when I was home for Thanksgiving one cold, cloudy morning when we went to feed the keeper heifers their "breakfast." Check out all of the other pictures from actual photographers on the project page.

Theme: A City Thing

I titled this photo "A San Francisco Thing." I took this when I lived in San Francisco in 2008 at the Escape from Alcatraz Triathalon. (Sidenote: I uploaded this to the project page on flickr and got my first comment on photo from an actual photographer! That was a big moment!)

Theme: Round Like Circles

Last weekend I cat-sat for Brett-Brett and his girlfriend. They have a beautiful house, so I took the chance to snap a few photo challenge pictures while I was hanging out with Casper!

Project 64: Week 2 - Carnation Pink

Well as you read about last week, I am participating in a photo challenge called Project 64: Out of the Box. I am so excited that in 64 weeks I will have a picture of every color in a crayon box!

Anyway, this week's color was Carnation Pink. I have to admit...I struggled with this a little! I didn't see pink anywhere for the first few days of the week. Then when I was getting ready for work one morning, I opened up my medicine cabinet and ..... BAM .... there was my photo for the Carnation Pink Week!

I just have to tell you that I'm pretty proud of this photo because I learned how to turn off the flash on my camera! I had never messed with the different settings before, but I decided that if I was going to be doing this photo challenge, I needed to try and brush up on some technical points.

You can check out the other photos by the photographers who actually know what they are doing on the Project 64 blog! Stay tuned for next week...they will announce the color of the week tomorrow!

Extreme Blog Makeover!

"From small beginnings come great things." ~American Proverb

First off, let me promise promise promise you that I have a Family Farm Friday blog ready for next week! It was scheduled for today, but we have breaking news to discuss! You all probably already realize this....but my blog has a whole new look!

All of this is thanks to Lauren from Blue Lux Studio! Yay, Lauren! She has been working with me for a couple of weeks to get everything just right. I'm super excited about the new look and hope you enjoy it! (And if you are looking for a blog designer, I cannot recommend her highly enough!)

And now, to point out a few new features on our Boeing 747 aircraft...oops, wrong speech. I mean, I'll point out a few new blog features! :)

New Header: This is my favorite part of the new blog! Lauren incorporated a little country with the barnwood and some OSU orange in the title. I also included a few of my favorite pictures so you could get a glimpse of my life!

About Me: On the top right column, you can check out a short About Me section where I share some of my favorite things! (The picture there and in this post was shot by The Bride on my Chicago trip!)

My Wonderful Followers: Underneath the About Me section, you see my followers! I would LOVE for you to read my blog--even if I don't know you in "real life" please feel free to become a follower! I'd love to meet you! Not sure how? Here are simple instructions!

Buttons: Right under my followers, you will see three buttons that will take you to a few of my favorite blog categories---Meet the Cast, Family Farm Friday, and Photography Challenges. This way, you can look at all of the blogs for each of these themes in one place!

Blog Archive: Shifting over to toe lefthand column at the top, we have the Blog Arthive. To read any old blogs, you can look through the Blog Archives (arranged by date).

Categories: Right under the Blog Archive, you can click on a category to read all blogs about a particular topic! So, for example, if you want to know everything there is to know about Cousin Kevin, you just click right on that category and it will show you ever blog about him!

Blogs I Love: Underneath the Categories you will find "Blogs I Love" where I list some of my favorite blogs that I follow!

Search Engine: Last, but not least, is a google search engine underneath all of the Blogs I Love. This will allow you to run searches in all of my old blog posts for certain words!

Music: At the very bottom center of the blog, you will find my playlist. I've got a few of my favorite songs set on shuffle, so hopefully each time you visit, you'll catch a different tune!

Anyway, I am in love with this new design and I really hope you guys like it too! I am so flattered that other people read my rantings, so if you are a regular reader, thank you! If you are a new reader, welcome! As always, comments are welcome (and much enjoyed!) so have at it! If you don't have a google account, you can always comment as Anonmyous and just sign your name! Hope everyone has a great Friday! :)

Throwback Thursday #45: Family Ski Trip

"A happy family is an earlier heaven." ~George Bernard Shaw

Five years ago we started our Family Ski Trip with 6 people. My brother, Quiet Cousin, Cousin Whitney, family friend JV, my brother's then-girlfriend, and me. Over the years, we have added lots of people to the event, both "blood family" and "ski trip family." (We've also added and then lost a few ex's from the group.....their loss if you ask me!)

What has always sort of amazed me is that this hodge-podge of random people who really don't have a whole lot in common, beyond loving to go on the ski trip every year, have become a sort of family. A lot of us only see each other once a year when we hit the slopes, but everyone always picks up where they left off the year before. I'm blessed in my life to have great blood family and great other families as well. The Ski Trip Family is one of those other ones that I treasure.

Because this year marked the 5th Annual Family Ski Trip. I thought it only appropriate to look back at the prior years. Here is a look back at the Family Ski Trips of old....

First Annual Ski Trip - Santa Fe

Like I said above, the first year was just us kids, and we taught Cousin Whitney, Quiet Cousin and Little Brother's ex girlfriend to ski all without killing each other. Victory! I had forgotten until I looked through the pictures that the weekend started out with a covert surprise birthday party for JV. Lots of fun!

Second Annual Ski Trip - Red River

This was the first year that the older generation ("Los Viejos") and my friend Captain (you'll be able to see him from now on in hunter orange) joined in on the trip! It was also our first year to stay right at the base of the lift--something that we have done every year since!

Third Annual Ski Trip - Angel Fire

Well if this year didn't put an end to Family Ski Trip, nothing will. There was my dad's job not letting him go, a speeding ticket, a car accident, a near-concussion, and then an ambulance trip for Cookie to the hospital after he dislocated his shoulder. (Mind you, it was his first time to go AND he was the only person not skiing...) We have vowed never to go to Angel Fire again!

Fourth Annual Ski Trip - Red River

After the disaster that was year 3, we were glad to report no tickets or ambulances! Just a lot of fun. This was the first time we scheduled the trip over New Year's weekend and I think everyone enjoyed it! We added Cousin Window Washer and his son, Cousin Rock Star, to the group. And, I am glad to report that Cookie's wife allowed him to return despite the prior year's injury! Good thing, because this was the year that Cookie introduced us to the delicacy of "hoe cakes."

Fifth Annual Ski Trip - Red River

This year the fun continued over New Year's weekend. We added a new ski trip family member to the group...Welder's Nephew....who was a friend of mine and Captain's at Oklahoma State. If you ask me, there is not a better way to ring in the year!

Here's to the next 5 years of Family Ski Trip!