I'm an Aunt!!!

Aiden Charles Murray Pass is my new nephew. This photo was taken when he was less than an hour old! Love at first sight. I'm hopelessly addicted to this child already! For more details, see Brad and Claire's blog.

My New Friend Dora

I guess I need to work on my enunciation skills, because when I told Pari and my mom that I had pictures to show them of my new front door, they both thought I said my new friend Dora. So, here you go folks, my new friend Dora. Oops, I mean my new front door!

My Set of Soul...

God is STILL good.

Hooray for the Red Sox!

Right before game four of the World Series, Claire and I got together to carve pumpkins. We have done this every year for a while now and always have a blast. This year I decided to carve this:

More pictures to come on facebook...

October

So, it's been a month of anniversaries, good and bad. It's been a year since we got our dog, Phoebe. So far, she's been a good fit. She tries so hard to be good.

It's been two years since we bought our house. Hard to believe that it's been that long. Time flies! We are still very happy here and still slowly working on fixing it up and making it ours. I love decorating!

It's been seven years since Nate and I first started courting! We celebrated by stopping for a couple of nights at Cape Cod on our way home from Fairwood. (I have pictures on my Facebook account if you want to check them out).

It's been almost one year since I started working at Wolf Camera. There is still so much that I don't know about cameras, but I've been learning a lot!

And now, I must flee. I'm watching the Red Sox. I love being a Red Sox fan!

You are not going to believe this!

The other evening, while brushing my teeth and various other of my nightly rituals, both of our cats hopped up on the counter for a drink of water. This is normal. I went over to Nate's sink and turned it on so they could take turns drinking while I finished up with my teeth. Then I turned off the water and climbed into bed. Then I heard a trickling sound coming out of the bathroom. All I could figure was that the cats had somehow figured out how to turn the water on, so I went to investigate. I poked my head around the corner in time to see our cat Melvin with his rear over the toilet relieving himself! Nate and I are thinking of setting up a video camera so that we can catch him in the act!

That circle with the C in the middle means something!

At the store where I work, copyright laws are taken very seriously. We are very aware that it is a federal law that we cannot reproduce professional pictures without a written release from the photographer or studio. We probably turn away 4 or 5 people a day if not more, telling them to come back with written permission. These nice, friendly southern folk are usually pretty unhappy and unfriendly and sometimes downright rude when we tell them we can't copy their pictures. You should hear some of the things people say to try to get us to break the law for them.

"It's me in the picture!"

"How do you know it's professional?"

"But I bought it, it's mine!"

"What if I cut the part off that says it's copyrighted?"

"This is ridiculous!" (usually accompanied by a disgusted look as they stomp away)

One time, my manager asked a woman who took her formal wedding pictures, and the woman said that she had done them herself! Hmm....

Today's customer takes the cake, though. She wanted me to copy these pictures of her son who passed away 10 years ago. When I told her I couldn't, she said, "This is like having my son die all over again by telling me you can't do it!"

Go Braves!

Tuesday evening, Nate and I went with my manager and her fiance to a Braves game! We had an awesome time and they beat the Astros 12 to 4! We even got these nifty yellow hats, courtesy of DHL! I didn't want to lug around my big camera, so I just used my phone to take pictures and it actually did a decent job!

What to say...

Well, I guess it's time to update, eh? Since I last posted, I've turned 33, celebrated our 6th anniversary and worked my tail off at Wolf Camera. In between all of those momentous activities I've been at home, feebly trying to figure out which cluttered room to tackle first. Nate and I are both messy pack rats. The mess is really starting to get to me, though, so I'm trying to come up with a fabulous plan to get back on track and keep ahead of the clutter instead of drowning in it. Maybe it's time to give FlyLady another try...

I've been struggling a lot lately with discontentment. This birthday hit me hard. I never thought that I would be childless and working at a camera store at 33! This isn't the way it's supposed to be, right? It's taken a lot to get my focus back on the fact that God has a perfect plan and that I'm in it. He knows my desires better than I do. He made me and planted those desires in me to begin with. Who am I to then turn around and say, "but wait, this isn't how it's supposed to be! This isn't what I had in mind for my life! What's going on?" I've really been convicted lately that my attitude is not what it should be. To complain to God like that is to question His control and plan for me. It's like a slap in His face. Oh, how I've hurt Him. I heard recently on a radio program that parents need to be willing to be unpopular and unloved in order to keep boundaries for their teens in the interest of their safety physically and spiritually. Hopefully they'll thank them down the road for those parameters they buck so hard against now. I'm taking a step of faith now and thanking God now for the fact that my life doesn't make sense. It doesn't need to. As long as I'm in the center of His will, and I know I am, I can be content regardless.

God is good. He loves me. And I can rest in that.

I Love Roses!

A Magnolia from Stone Mountain

I've Been Tagged!

Claire has tagged me. So, now I have to state the rules: I must share seven random facts about myself and tag seven other people, listing them here on my blog and leaving comments on their blogs so they know they've been tagged.

1. I drove around a 2007 PT Cruiser for two weeks while my car was being fixed.

2. My car was being fixed because Nate and I were rear-ended on Easter Sunday and pushed into the car ahead of us. We were the peanut butter in the sandwich.

3. When we were rear-ended I hurt my neck, so now Nate and I are going to the best chiropractor in the world once a week.

4. My toes have green polish on them.

5. I was shocked to see the new colors of the front hall at Fairwood, because Nate and I did the exact same thing in our dining room!

6. I've been to all but 4 states and to 6 countries, not counting our own.

7. Brad is three years younger than me, but when he was starting to pass me in height people thought we were twins.

So now, I tag Lori, Jill, Kristi, SNS News/Silas, Mom, Katie, and Andrea!

My own disclaimer: if you hate these things and don't want to participate, please feel no pressure. I'll love you anyway!

When Not to Multitask

Nate and I were out the other day, driving in busy Atlanta traffic at speeds of around 65 mph, when we looked over and saw the woman in the car next to us filing her nails with NO hands on her steering wheel!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

I love you, Mom. Thank you for being such a wonderful mother and friend.

In the Kitchen with Nate

Any excuse to use his power tools...

Happy Easter!

Once again Claire, Mom and I decorated Easter eggs! Fun as always. I'm thankful that Easter is about more than just the eggs or the bunnies or the candy. It's about an empty tomb.

Experimenting with the camera...

Portrait of a Stranger

This gentleman came into our store today.

Inside Looking Out

Black and White

A dandelion from our backyard.

Self Portrait --- A Bad Hair Day

Corners of My Home

I am participating in Liane's photo week challenge! This happens to be one of my favorite corners.

Before and After

We recently had new siding put on our house, and while we were at it, chose a new color, too. So, here are a couple of pics showing the before (with Nate in front) and after. What a shocker, we chose green!

Edmund Joseph

As Claire mentioned on her blog, Dan and Pari just had their third baby. He was born on Nate's birthday. Six pounds and 14 oz. He's so little and cute and I've already fallen head over heels! Here's some pics from when Claire and I took his older siblings in to the hospital for a visit.

Happy Birthday, Nate!

Let me just say that I think I have the best husband in the world. He cooks for me on days I have to work late, and sometimes on other days just because he enjoys it. He doesn't even use recipes and one time made the crust for chicken pot pie from scratch without even looking in a cookbook. It was the best I've ever had. He buys me flowers. He often comes home with chocolate for me or some other random Nate-like gift for me. He loves me more than he loves himself. He even went to the store on his own to buy a skirt that he knew I wanted! He is handy around the house, too, and can figure just about anything out. He's one of those people that knows a little bit of just about everything. There have been many times that he's blurted out some random piece of trivia. He prays for me every day and tells me he loves me multiple times a day in words and in actions. He's steady enough not to let little things get to him, and isn't easily fazed. But, he's also tender-hearted and not afraid to cry. I love you, Nate! Happy Birthday!

A New Camera!

I have a new camera. A Nikon D50. I love it! I fell in love with it with the first click, and I've been clicking away ever since. Here are a couple of samples. Nate is cutting the crepe myrtle back in case you are wondering!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Zip over to Avalanche Cowpoke's blog and wish him a Happy Birthday. He is the greatest dad in the world after all.

Just outside our basement door...

...we found this dead bug. Yes. It's real.

I'm so busy!

Busy, busy, busy.

I need to go do dishes and get the laundry started and get ready to teach Joshua. So, I will leave you with this picture of GREEN! Can't wait to see it again on the trees!