Friday, December 26, 2008

A few of baby Jaleigh's newborn pics are posted on my photography blog!!
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So sis and I are sitting here at my house just chillin! The plan was to scrapbook and after a couple of hours we finally got around to it!
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We had all had a nice Christmas yesterday...First we did Christmas morning wth Lindsey & Jadyn and then with Matt's family...We had lunch at my parents and then did the family thing there too...












And now it's Friday evening and we have the whole weekend ahead of us...A whole weekend with no plans!! Whatever will we do??


Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Merry Christmas Eve!!

It's kinda been a crazy day, but a GOOD crazy day!

First off, this morning I went to Gibson to do some newborn pics of baby Jaleigh...She did SOOO great! (Here's one quick pic just to represent, but more to come tomorrow when I actually have some time to look through them!!)




Then back in town, I did a little last minute shopping, had a quick nap and headed out for the traditional Harrison family Chinese dinner!

We made a quick stop by my parents and are now home baking a cake and wrapping a few more presents...

Oh and my super good friend Lindsey brought me some of those very yummy cinnamon rolls featured on her blog last night!! (So here's a sweet pic of her a Jadyn all dressed up from the Christmas Eve service at church!)


Tuesday, December 23, 2008

So it's the day before Christmas Eve and guess who's sick?! Yep, I stayed home from work today when I woke up with a sore throat and achy ears...I actually slept until 2:30 this afternoon and then just layed around watching TV until Matt got home at 6...I totally felt like I'd wasted the day so since he's been gone all night (wrapping presents at Wal-Mart for the youth fundraiser) I've forced myself to do something somewhat productive. I've been sitting in here at the computer catching up on writing and printing out my journaling for my current year scrapbook! I've actually done really good...I'm all caught up except for one last one that I need to print out!
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Tomorrow morning I'm making a little trip to Gibson to do newborn pictures of Jason & Kacey's new baby girl, Jaleigh. (Here's a couple pics I took last week the day after she was born.)




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And then tomorrow night begins the Christmas festivities!! I'm looking forward to it all but really hoping that I don't get too sick so I can enjoy it all! (And the time off work!!)
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On a random note, Matt & I are planning on joining the Family Y after the holidays. Matt was originally going to join by himself so him and Steve could start working out in the mornings together, but ideally I'd like to be able to start working out again too. Back when we were engaged we both on a pretty steady workout routine, but that went down the crapper when I got sick for so long. Even though it's been five years since then, I just can't seem to get myself motivated to start back. My biggest concern is time! I mean, seriously, we usually have something going on AT LEAST three nights week! So I don't know...I think we're going to join and give it a shot for two months and see if we can actually get ourselves in a steady routine. Let's just hope I don't get too frustrated when I don't see results right away!

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Well Matt should be home soon so I'm gonna go kill a few minutes finishing up a Jon & Kate episode I started earlier!

Monday, December 22, 2008

Our trip to Birmingham with Steve & Sarah this past weekend was AWESOME!
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On our way we surprised Sarah with a trip to Archivers...(And yes, both husbands were good sports and didn't complain TOO much while feeling a little out of place!)
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Once we were back on the road Matt was the first to realize that we were about to be driving into another time zone...Yeah my heart kinda stopped for a couple quick seconds! We needed to get to B'ham about 4:30 so we could change and get to The Cheesecake Factory by 5:30 and somehow in all my planning I'd failed to remember that BIRMINGHAM is in another TIME ZONE! But lucky for us, this time change worked in our favor...And actually if I HAD thought of it earlier and factored it into our driving time we would've been late...Thank you Central Time Zone for giving us an extra hour and saving my tail!!
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As we got closer to the city I passed the directions up to Steve so that he could navigate for Matt...(But little did HE know there was no way I could relinquish TOTAL control - I kept my own directions in the back for me and Sarah to chime in whenever the need arose!) We checked into our hotel, change clothes and headed out for dinner!
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So we get to The Cheesecake Factory right at 5:30...Certainly it couldn't be TOO busy by then, right?? Uh yeah. Let's just say it was only a TWO HOUR wait! Fortunately for us though, I know a little secret and walked us straight to a table and sat down! We all thoroughly enjoyed our meal (once we made it through the 20 page menu!) and ordered up PLENTY of cheesecake to go for our after-concert snack!!
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Although it should have only been about a 15 minute drive from dinner to the concert we managed to turn it into quite an adventure. We needed to find gas somewhere, but finding ANYTHING in downtown B'ham is pretty near impossible. (Think, all streets with numbered names that have both a North & South version blocks away from each other. Oh and did I mention that they're all ONE WAY!?) Finally a cop directing traffic "pointed" us in the direction of a gas station. Yeah. Can we say sketchville?! I'm talking like the kind of place you think only exists in movies. And of course, you had to actually go INSIDE to pay! We got just enough gas to get us to another gas station and got the heck out of there!
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And then there's the Trans Siberian Orchestra concert- The whole reason for our trip! Unfortunately there's just really no way to describe their concerts...There's just no way possible to comprehend the musical drive and the mind-blowing lights/flames/fire until you've experienced it first-hand! Since this was our second concert we kept looking over at Steve and Sarah just to see their reaction and the look on their faces...So awesome!!
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Before heading home on Sunday we took a little detour up to Commerce (Georgia) to do a little shopping at the outlets. We ate, shopped, and ate some more before settling in for the last leg of our trip. In my pre-trip planning I had typed out directions to and between each of our stops and with the exception of a mysterious non-existent U-turn, they had proven flawless. So the question remains, why on earth did the guys decide it would be better just to follow little squiggly lines on a map than to actually use the line by line directions?? Honestly! I guess it's just that whole "adventure" thing that they crave!
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So anyways, after multiple U-turns, we all made it home safely. Of course we had a good trip, ate some great food and saw an awesome concert, but in the end we unanimously decided the best part of the entire weekend was definitely just getting to spend two uninterrupted days with amazing friends!

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

My Newfound Thoughts on Sweet Tea

Yes. An entire post about SWEET TEA b/c I've become totally obsessed with the very drink I've hated my entire life!!

It started back during the summer when I was really sick...Out of nowhere I started craving it and my first glass (at Sconyers) quickly turned into three glasses!! After that I ordered it every now at restaurants and and began frequenting Chick-Fil-A for half sweet tea half lemonade. At some point a couple of months ago I actually made a pitcher of it for party at our house one night (complete with sliced lemons of course!!) and now the rest is history. I've graduated from a medium to a large half and half at Chick-Fil-A and we've even started buying the "family size" box of teabags!

But the craziest part of it all is IN MY HEAD!! It has some sort of twisted placebo affect on me! Like in my mind I feel like I'm drinking some sort of alcholic drink!! Now of course I don't start walking into walls or slurring my speech, but I feel like I'm doing something wild and crazy!! Maybe it's the whole "caffeinated" thing b/c I hear people say "I better drink caffeine this late or I'll be up all night!" Maybe I think if I drink it during the day I'm going to start running around like the Energizer Bunny...Or maybe since I didn't grow up drinking it it's like an "adult beverage" to me! (I actually had the thought this morning as I was filling my Nalgene bottle that I better not drink it while driving!!)

So yeah. Mix me, sweet tea and lemon and all of sudden you get Super Hip, Super Edgy Jenn!

(Well, in my HEAD at least!)



Monday, December 15, 2008

Time for a friendly game of TAG!!
(Thanks, Lindsay J. for passing on the fun!)

Here's the rules:
1) Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer
2) Select the 4th picture in the folder
3) Explain the picture
4) Tag 4 people to do the same
NO CHEATING! (cropping, editing, etc!)

Here's my pic (and unfortunately it happens to be one that I JUST blogged about last week!!


It's STRETCH! Read the very funny story about WHY there might be a wooden CAT in my BED here!

Now, I'm tagging
Brandi
Stacey
Angela
Shannon



And on another note, I had a very awesome surprise waiting for me when I unlocked my office door this morning...While I was out Friday (vacation day) Brandi & Sharon decided to entertain themselves by decorating my office. It's SOOOO awesome!! There's Christmas lights all around my shelves on my back wall and huge snowflakes and big blue ornaments hanging from my ceiling!! It looks so so good! It makes me happy just to look around at it all! Definitely gonna have to take my camera tomorrow so I can post pics!!

Well, just got home from a Christmas party...Time to catch up on a little TV and get ready to for another day!!

Hope you have a good week!!

Sunday, December 14, 2008




No, I did NOT convince my hubby that we NEEDED to open my nephew's Christmas present and try it out! Besides, why would two kid-free ADULTS ever want to sit around for an hour playing such a fun game?!?!





Oh and I most certainly did NOT have to explain to a room full of people at a Christmas party the meaning of "Not Me Monday" when I excitedly yelled it out in response to someone's "No, I did NOT" statement!
Nope. Not me!
It's been a whirlwind of a week/weekend!!

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Wednesday Night - Youth

Thursday Night - Youth Leadership Dinner

Friday - Day off of work. Hung out with sis and the boys. Kept boys while sis & bro-in-law attended a wedding and had Lindsay & Jadyn over to play!

Saturday - Christmas shopping in the AM. Nieces B-Day Parties, Friend's Christmas Party, Deacon & Elders Christmas Party (All between the hours of 2:30 and 6:30!)

Sunday - Church. Kept nephews (+ one!) after church. Grocery store. Nap!

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Now it's time for the week to get underway again!
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Monday Night - Small Group Christmas Party

Tuesday Night - Womens Ornament Exchange at Church

Wednesday Night - Youth Christmas Party


Thursday Night - Visiting Kacey, Jason & soon-to-be-born Baby Jaleigh

Friday Night - ??

Saturday through Sunday - Birmingham Trip w/the Whites for TSO Concert!

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Whew! See ya on the flipside!!






(Pics from the afternoon)

Tired Grey




Jackson being super sweet outside





Sweet Wilson playing "golf"






Tuesday, December 9, 2008


Mommy: "Sweet Little Chips, why do you look so concerned??"









Chips: "Oh, I don't know...Maybe because STRETCH is in the BED!!!"




HAHAHA! Matt and I just got home to discover a certain little Stickel boy had stopped by our house and decided that it was OBVIOUSLY time for Stretch (our tall, wooden decorative cat) to go night-night!!


Good times...

Monday, December 8, 2008

Sometimes a wonderful boost of confidence comes right out of nowhere when you least expect it!

And on that note, a random pic of our elf...(with his good buddies, Jingle Pals!)

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Other than a family shoot this afternoon (see my Photography Blog), we've had a pretty relaxed weekend...Yesterday we decorated my parents' Christmas tree and then spent the evening hanging out and playing cards with Steve & Sarah...

So now the weekend is coming to an end! Another week at work...Not sure if I can take it!! Off to enjoy these next few hours before the craziness starts again!

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Awesome Charity Raffle

What?! Two post in one night?! Insanity!!

But I just wanted to call your attention to the "Rebel for a Cause" button over on my sidebar...Clicking it will take you over to a blogger buddy's blog where she's hosting a raffle to raise money for three different charities...

So GO! NOW! And check it out! You'll flip when you see what she's raffling off! Even if you've already got one, I'm sure you have a friend that wouldn't mind a little love!! And besides, it's for some really awesome charities!



Sometimes you just need a break...And tonight is mine!! Sure I should be at youth right about now, but after working til 8 last night and 6 tonight, all I wanted to do was to come home and take a few minutes to breath!!

So I've caught up on all my blog reading and just took the time to snap of a few pics of our Christmas tree and other decorations!


Here's a peak at some of Matt's great finds at the after-Christmas sales...Several poinsettias and even a couple of deer!




And despite the fact that we don't usually get a tree until the the first weekend in December, we sorta broke down and got it a little early! (Yes, in the middle of last weekends flood!) Matt was a little concerned that none of the trees were tall enough, but as soon as he stood this one up in the garage he realized he'd be chopping a little off the top to fit it under our 10' ceilings!






And who do we have here?!?! It looks like The Elf on the Shelf has taken up residence in the Harrison household! (But shhh...Matt doesn't know yet! Our little elf is strategically hiding in the cabinet where I'm sure he'll go to fix a drink as soon as he gets home!)


I know it's silly, but I'm so excited about our Elf! I've been thinking about him for days and just finally got the chance to get him today. The girl packaging him up said, "Aww! Are you a teacher??" I told her I wasn't and the other lady said "Oh you're going to have so much fun taking him home and setting him up for your children!" - I just smiled. No need to tell her my little elf is just for me and my Christmas-loving hubby!

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Of course we're back from Hickory Knob now! We got back yesterday about noon and started putting out our Christmas decorations. I'll have to post a pic at some point to prove how awesome my hubby is at decorating...(especially for Christmas!) Last year he got some really great deals after Christmas at Michael's so we have lots of new decorations this year...Our living room looks so good!

Later in the afternoon we had lunch at local Italian restaurant, The Garlic Clove...As always, the food was great, but the best part was how nice and relaxing the meal was! Lately we've been doing a lot of take-out and even when we DO eat in, we're usually in a rush for some reason, but yesterday we had time to kill and actually took our time eating and even ordered DESSERT!

Afterward we had family pictures with Matt's family and then spent a little time wrapping gifts outside of Wal-Mart as part of a Student Ministry/Worship Team fundraiser...

Today was a TOTALLY rainy, lazy day...I slept in til noon, got up and watched the first half of the Georgia game and then took a nap from 1:30-3:30! I was starving by the time I got up so we had dinner at Outback and then us and our cousin Abby (who's in town from Tennessee) went to see "Four Christmases." - Very funny movie!

Now, much to our cats' delight, we're settling in for the evening...Tomorrow will be church and who know's what else we'll find to do on the last day of our long holiday weekend before heading back to what will be a CRAZY week at work!

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving from Hickory Knob!

We got in later last night that usual so we made our rounds to let everyone know we'd made it, did a little scrapbooking and then kinda called it an early night!

Today's been a pretty lazy day...Poor Jadyn is still fighting his ear infection and is just NOT a happy camper! We just went outside to take a few pics, but who knows what we actually ended up with between Jadyn's tears and my dead battery!!






Monday, November 24, 2008

So as I'm thinking about all the things I need to do in the next couple of days to get ready for Thanksgiving I'm also looking at my planner and kinda starting to panic at how full the month of December is ALREADY...I'm reminded of my good friend Sarah's response to an question on an email forward about what's most annoying about the holidays...

"The busyness of the schedule. I mean, really, do we have to have a Christmas party with every single group of people we happen to be a part of? Do we really have to make a dish of food and buy a $5 gift and find a sitter for for all those parties? Why can't we spread them out over the whole year? Then we would have something to look forward to in August. Why do we feel compelled to max-out our time and money all in one month? Wouldn't a simple "I love you and appreciate you" be enough to show someone the kindness of Jesus during the season? Why do we really do all of this? I'm not trying to be Scrooge. I just get stressed at this time of the year when everyone requires more of your time and money than usual. Wouldn't it just be nice to have a break? I think I'll send out an invitation for a "stay-at-home" Christmas party to all my friends. It would read..."You're invited to STAY HOME for a Christmas Party. Don't buy a gift. Don't make a finger food. Don't hire a sitter. Don't bundle up and leave the house. Brew yourself a cup of coffee. Turn on some Christmas music. Sit on your couch under a cozy blanket. Gaze into the lights on your tree. Think of me and I'll think of you. I love you dearly and hope you have a Merry Christmas!" "

Well said Sarah! Love ya girl!

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Sorry...No fun post from Jadyn tonight! We're busy taking care of a sick Mr. Matt! But we did have fun at the park with Natalie and Laurel and even got to make a trip to the grocery store before going to John Ross' house for dinner!

But like I said...We better get back to our patient!


Saturday, November 22, 2008

Hi mommy! I'm sorry you have to work tonight, but try not to miss me too much!



You didn't realize how tired I was earlier, but me and Mrs. Jenn slept until 6:15! I would've slept longer, but Mrs. Jenn wanted me to wake up and watch football with her and Mr. Matt. Once I woke up a little she gave me my milk and I really enjoyed gulping it down while relaxing in front of the fire...



I'm having a great time trying to befriend the kitties, but they keep asking me why they have to eat their dinner up on top of the counter...(Maybe you can figure out why.)



Now don't worry...Unlike last night, I'm not looking for you out the front door...I'm watching Mr. Matt change the light bulbs on the porch! He's so cool, mom! He's like Super Matt!



Oh and thanks for sending this book for me to read...You must know me pretty well!



Now I hate for you to have to see this, but of course no night's complete without just a couple of tears...Like this time when Mrs. Jenn wouldn't let me press all the buttons on the TV...I mean, what's up with that?!? Doesn't she know I'm very sensitive and even though she very nicely told me "No" it still hurt my sweet little feelings!



But Mr. Matt to the rescue! As long as I can climb up in his lap I'm perfectly content!



Well I'm off to play some more!
See ya later alligator!!



Wednesday, November 19, 2008

So it's a proven fact that I just don't like to be cold. I hate it. It's unecessary. I don't know what it is, but once I get cold I STAY cold until about an hour after I go to bed. Like right now, I'm a little on the "cool" side but my poor little hands are like POPSICLES!! Of course my job involves this wonderful little computer that I'm currently typing on and I've found it quite difficult to TYPE with big ol' bulky gloves on! Now I am kinda thankful that we've made it halfway into November before the cold weather hit, but now that it's here I'm just not ready!

Monday, November 17, 2008

Crazy Kind of Bond

When Matt & I first got married (May 2004) we moved into Arborside (apartments). Shortly thereafter, (August 2004) Matt's mom told us that the young guy who works for her was getting married and they were moving in our apartment complex and would actually be right across the street from us. Well, sure enough, they did. And every now and then we'd see them getting home from work or taking in groceries, but we never spoke (or even acknowledged each other for that matter!!) Finally, a full year later (August 2005) from our upstairs window in our office I saw Jason pull up, get out and go inside their apartment. Obviously I was in some sort of wild and crazy mood because after 45 minutes of begging, I finally convinced Matt that we should just go knock on their door and introduce ourselves! So with our hearts beating in throats, we made the long walk across the parking lot and met two of the best people in the world!

Jason & Kacey invited us in and we sat and talked for HOURS that first evening. It was absolutely crazy how much the four of us had in common! Within a couple of weeks we were basically inseperable. We were together almost every night. We'd get home from work/class and head over to Jason & Kacey's where the guys would play NCAA Football on XBox while Kacey and I chilled on the couch with a couple of good books! Looking back, it seems like that period in our lives lasted for years, but it was really only less than a year.

In May (2006) Jason & Kacey moved back to Gibson (about an hour away) to be closer to family. Although we kept saying we were gonna make it down to Gibson to spend the weekend with them, in all the craziness of life it just never happened, so text messaging became our main means of communication. In December, Matt & I closed on our new house and we too moved out of the ol' Arborside! We were totally floored when Jason & Kacey (and Kacey's twin sister, Stacey) showed up at our housewarming party! This was the first time we'd seen each other since they'd moved in May!

Of course before they left that night, we once again vowed that we'd have to get together more often, but as life sometimes goes, that too never happened.

Now here we are November of 2008, and we haven't seen our friends in literally just shy of two full years, (Again, thanks to text messaging, we DO know of the major happenings in each others lives or even what good books we've just GOT to read!) but when I got an invitation in the mail for Kacey's baby shower I did everything possible to make sure we would finally make it Gibson!

Kacey's shower was Saturday morning and Matt & I both are so so glad we were able to go. I went to the shower while the guys hung out playing none other than NCAA Football! Afterwards we were able to watch a little of the Georgia game together before we had to head back to the big city for a wedding.

The thing we just can't get over is how "normal" everything was...I mean, usually there's some sort of awkwardness when you're with people you haven't seen (or barely talked to!) in TWO years, but it was literally like it had only been two WEEKS!! Man it makes me miss them! It was so hard after they moved, but I'm just so thankful that we all still just have that crazy connection that we've had from day one!

Kacey will be having her baby here in Augusta on Thursday, December 18th. Can't wait!! The date's already on the calendar!!

So once again, as we left Saturday, we all said "We've got to get together more often!" but we all know how far that's gotten us in the past. I think this time we'll all try a little harder, give it a bit more effort, and just keep in touch better, but in the end, at least we know that whether it's weeks, months or years, we've got a crazy kind of bond that'll always last!



Sunday, November 16, 2008

Wow! A what a whirlwind of a weekend!!

We started out yesterday morning about 9am by heading to a baby shower in Gibson (about an hour away)...We got BACK in town with just minutes to spare to run by the house, change clothes, and get to the wedding of our very good friend's little brother...Sweet wedding and awesome reception! It was great catching up with some of our friends from Curtis...(Even though I start to feel REALLY old when I'm talking to my former JUNIOR HIGH kids who are now in COLLEGE!!) So we leave the wedding, run by the house to change clothes AGAIN and head out to a friend's house in Harlem to hang out for the evening. We hung out for a while, watched some "Queen" and had some low southern country boil! Due to the craziness of the day, we called it a fairly early night so that we could get home and cuddle up in front of our wonderful fireplace!

Today was church and then we made a trip over to the Old Navy to do a little damage. Yeah, we've NEVER spent that much on clothes at one time! (But who can resist a 30% off coupon?!?!) We had a late lunch at Macaroni Grill and spent the afternoon/early evening at the Ellis' house with Kathy, Sarah and the kids!

Now I'm sitting here blogging b/c I've been TOTALLY disconnected from my wonderful laptop for the past 48 hours...Ahhh...I just LOVE the feel of these keys at my fingertips! I'm addicted. Yes, I know. (And I'm also trying very hard NOT to entertain the idea of a new cell phone (or a Blackberry?!?) with major internet capabilities just so I can be connected TWENTY-FOUR SEVEN!!) I could so just sit here for hours editing pics or blogging...BUT It's already past 8 and I think we have a date with our fireplace and a movie!

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Just got home from youth. Hungry. Haven't had dinner. (Or lunch, for that matter.) Need to pay bills. Need to go visit my parents. Need to pay their bills. Need to update student ministry info for tonight's visitors. Want to blog. Want to warm my feet in the fire. Want to catch up on some of our recorded shows. Want to work on my "Stories in Hand" project. Want to do absolutely nothing and not have 10,000 thoughts going through my head. Don't like people who are in a permanent bad mood. Don't like people who are rude for absolutely no reason. Just get over yourself, stop creating problems and be nice. Makes life a lot more tolerable for those who are forced to put up with you.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Wow. Just finished editing up pics from this mornings photoshoot with the Popes. In all honesty, I was having my doubts as to how many good ones I was getting during the shoot, but now that I've finished sorting and editing I see that I do have quite a few good ones. (Including a really great family shot that I'm totally thrilled to have!!) The girls actually did really good for me and had fun exploring the location, but the youngest is just at that age where sitting still and looking in one direction with a "normal" smile on her face is pretty impossible! Totally expected though...Nephew Grey is going through that same stage...Good practice for me though!


Here's a few, with a few more over on my photography blog!





Last night was fun. I actually got to scrapbook for the first time since the retreat in AUGUST! The best part though was getting to hang out with some totally fun girls that I don't get to hang out with too often. (This is another group sis and I crop with...We typically get together at least once a month, but I've either been out of town or had something going on the last few months!) Definitely looking forward to next time!

So now that I've killed a few minutes blogging while my pics are being watermarked I guess I'll go burn the proof CD and start winding down for the night!


Friday, November 7, 2008

Just a quick post to FINALLY upload a few pics from last weekend's mountain trip!
(These are totally unedited and I am almost ashamed to put them up, but I'm just gonna have to deal!!)









Looking forward to a nice weekend! Will start it off with somescrapbooking tonight with some buddies I haven't been able to hang out with in the last couple of months. Then tomorrow morning I have a photo shoot with the Pope family...No real plans after that, but no complaints! I'm sure a few random things will come up!