11.30.09 Photo of the Day

I am missing my camera already. Boo.  I do like the way this photo turned out though. I love that you can see the moon and I love the trees shadow! We are anxiously awaiting the final leaves to fall off so that we can take off the lines for a while!

11.29.09 Photo of the Day

Goodbye dear camera. I'll miss you while you are in Maryland.  Stay out of trouble and make sure to take lots of good pics. Oh, yeah and Ditz you have fun too. 

I ♥ Faces: I ♥ Tooshies Challenge

I have been looking forward to this challenge for weeks now!  I can't always (ok mostly can't) get will participants for the whole faces portion of I ♥ Faces.  Everyone is soooo shy - haha.  Anyway, the Jones family went to Galveston, Texas awhile back and I already was thinking photobook as I was snapping pictures.  I wanted a walking away photo for the back cover, but people are funny about being photographed for behind. So I didn't tell any of them and took it anyway.  I love how it turned out!

So head on over to I Heart Faces to see more great tooshie shots!

11.28.09 Photo of the Day (and the story of sibling rivalry)

I love my brother-in-law Hunter. He is basically my new favorite person ever.

See Hunter has this girlfriend Ryan that he loves very much.

They've been together almost exactly as long as Ditz and I have been. They are high school sweethearts who have managed to stay together through their first two years of college.  I'll get back to them and a second.

When Ditz and I knew that we were going to get married, he got me an unconventional engagement ring.  Yeah, it's a house.  We spent the money that would have gone towards an engagement ring as a down payment on this puppy.  I love it and it's great, but looks really huge on my finger... : )

This is the picture of our wedding rings that I took back in 2008 when we got married.  I got a simple diamond band, nothing fancy... just a ring. Now is the time to go back and pick up the Hunter and Ryan story.  Hunter is proposing to Ryan at Christmas - pretty sure she doesn't read my blog - oh crap if she does.  Hunter has picked out the ring, just needs to pick it up.  I haven't seen it, but I am sure it will be lovely.  So on our drive back to Fort Worth from Paris, Ditz said that he just couldn't be beaten by his baby brother.  I laughed and said, yeah it'd kind of suck.  There was a little more conversation on the drive home, but not much.  I do believe I told him he had thirty days give or take if we wanted to beat him. Mind you we've been married for fifteen months now.  After we got home and settled for a few minutes he said we should go to a jewelry store just to look. We went everywhere. Ditz was looking for a near flawless diamond and I was looking for a style that I liked.  We landed on one we could both agree on and I thought that was it. We'd get it later.... and then he did something very un-Ditz like. He said let's get it.  So here it is my photo of the day:

I purposefully recreated a similar looking photo that I took last year. And there you go.  He finally bought me the diamond ring. All because of a little sibling rivalry.

And here's a photo that I told Ditz to take of me and my new fancy dancy ring. It still needs to be sized, but I wanted to wear it for a few days just to show it off! And the best part of it?? It's paid for. : )

11.27.09 Photo of the Day

On the drive back from Paris to Fort Worth we stopped so I could snag this picture. I love run down buildings and let me tell you there are plenty out in northeast Texas.

11.26.09 Photo of the Day

This is the view from my father-in-laws porch in Paris, Texas. I was playing around and trying to get a bit of interesting sun flare, which I think I accomplished!

11.25.09 Photo of the Day

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.... Natalie and I spent the Wednesday before Thanksgiving at the office putting up our Christmas Village. This year we picked up this new kissing couple to add to the mix. You can barely see if but there's this one guy that I think looks uber creepy, so we have him spying on the kissing couple!

You Capture: Food

This week over at I should be folding laundry, the challenge was to capture food. And if there is one thing I know all about it's food. I love to eat it and I am slowly learning to cook it! So, here are some lovely food photos that I took in the last few weeks!

Anyone planning on visiting the Dallas area has to stop in at Buzz Brews for breakfast.  Once a week a girlfriend of mine do breakfast and last Friday we picked up their pancakes (we had to get them to go so that we could eat them at the office).  Usually we get fast food, but for whatever reason last week we splurged!  I have never in my life had more perfect pancakes!

And one more must eat place in Dallas which I NEVER get to eat at but Sunday night Ditz was willing to make the thirty minute drive to pick up.  So i Fratelli is a great thin crust pizza! (And yes, I ate a lot of it before I thought to take a picture).

Garlic.  In my house we can't get enough and we seriously go through a 64 ounce container every four months.  I can't remember the last thing we made that didn't have garlic in it.

We bought this freezer a month ago and have already filled it to capacity.  We originally thought that it would take waaaaay longer, so now we need to start eating stuff out of the "magic store in the garage." (That's what my hubby calls it).

They were on sale this week.

And if you made it this far, you deserve a little dessert.  This is the most wonderful angel food cake, fresh whipped cream and fruit. It was soooo super!

Head on over to I should be folding laundry for more mouthwatering photos!

11.24.09 Photo of the Day

These are flowers that our culinary center used a week and a half ago during one of their events. Someone took them and stuck them next to the window near the back office and they've been there ever since. I don't think anyone is ever planning on tossing them out. Did you ever see that episode of Everybody Loves Raymond with the suitcase on the stairs? I think this might turn into that. : ) (But I think they are sort of pretty). (Katie Pertiet Grunge overlay added)

Top Ten Most Played Songs on Your I-pod

I was listening to the radio this morning and they were discussing whether or not their top ten most played songs on their i-pods accurately represented their music "personality."  Well, I thought that I would take a look when I got to work just to see. (Their conclusion was that it does not).   A few things to note about my list. Number 1, when my hard drive died in September, the counter started over.  Number 2, my itunes is up and playing all day while I am at work, but that does not neccessarily mean that I am always paying attention to it. So anyway, here it is.... my list.

1. Carolina Liar - "Show Me What I'm Looking For"
2. Hinder - "Without You"
3. Jewel - "Intuition"
4. Leslie Roy - "Unbeautiful"
5. Jewel - "Hands"
6. Britney Spears - "Circus"
7. Gym Class Heros - "Cupids Chokehold"
8. Breaking Benjamin - "Breath"
9. The Fray - "You Found Me"
10. Jason Mraz / Colbie Callait - "Lucky"

Now how accurate do I think that list is? Well, it makes it appear that I am a way bigger Jewel fan than I am. True I purchased both of those songs, but I can't remember hearing them in recent months. There are two itunes free songs of the week listed. (Carolina Liar in the number one spot was a freebie as was Breaking Benjamin).  I will say that I do love the Carolina Liar song, but I don't know that I love it at the number one spot. The said radio show that led me to do this post got me to buy Leslie Roy's song during a bit they call music that makes you cooler, I am still waiting on that to happen.  So of the top ten there are five songs that I love and would listen to over and over.  This is how I would arrange those five songs.

1. Jason Mraz / Colbie Callait - "Lucky" (Such a cute love song)
2. Gym Class Heros - "Cupids Chokehold" (Such a weird love song)
3. Hinder - "Without You" (Great break up song)
4. The Fray - "You Found Me" (Song that I think is about God)
5. Carolina Liar - "Show Me What I'm Looking For" (Song that I know is about God)

11.23.09 Photo of the Day

We are going to my father in laws for Thanksgiving this year and we were asked to bring the Sangria. So we are making it from scratch and are going to let it soak for the full 24 hours. I don't drink wine, but I am sure it will be great! Ingredients: red wine, apples, oranges, tangerines, a lime and mango / brandy (not pictured).

I ♥ Faces: Sun Flare

This week over at I ♥ Faces the theme is sun flare.  I suck at sun flare.  I'm just going to start the post off by saying that. It's ok, I'm not upset about it.  Can't be great at everything.  I practiced and practiced with the tree in the back yard and got a few good ones, but funny thing - my tree doesn't have a face.  I mean I can of think it does as we pointed the face towards the back door, but I really don't think that counts for other people.  I couldn't find a willing participant to play with me so, I just did it myself.  So that's me (there's a face back there I promise) and a sun flare. Just an FYI, I am the one on the left and the sun flare is on the right. Want to go see lots of really talented people show off some good (dare I say great) examples of sun flare? Head over to I ♥ Faces. You won't be disappointed!

11.22.09 Photo of the Day

Today I made Ditz go with me to the old Alton bridge in Denton. I expected it to be just us and that we could walk around and explore, but when we got there that was not the case. There was at least ten professional photographers with clients getting in family portraits. Clearly it's the hip and happening place in Texas. So my original picture in my head that I wanted to get was the big red bridge and the trees. Well that didn't happen, too many people. We're going to have to try again someday soon.

The runner up. I hate that I couldn't actually get a shot of the bridge because of all the people.

And of course a new picture of Chaser dog.  Ditz was holding his new favorite toy in the whole wide world.

11.21.09 Photo of the Day

That's right girls...Your Juju got you pretty princess stuff for Christmas. And this is just a little bit of it, there was more in the car. Unfortunately your silly aunt got you educational toys. At least it wasn't underwear....

11.20.09 Photo of the Day

This morning I was in our teaching kitchen rooting around for some orange juice. I didn't find any, but I did love how the pots and pans look back lit by my office. There were no lights on in the kitchen, just the light from my office. I am so glad they finally frsoted that glass!

11.19.09 Photo of the Day

That's right. Sick again. At least I am pretty sure this time that it isn't the flu, just a pesky cough. The joke at the office today was either - "you trying to hack up a lung?" or "You're starting to sound like a man." Lovely people I work with. Anyway, It's seven o'clock and I am heading off to bed.

11.18.09 Photo of the Day

Can you guess what was on sale this week? I am going to whip up a big batch of my world famous spaghetti sauce and myabe some spanish rice with the rotel. This is just a portion of the tomato based products I bought last night. Ditz was less than thrilled. : )

You Capture: Sunset

So try as I may, I cannot for the life of me get a good sunset picture.  I tried this past week and came up with a bunch of nothing.  I did get a few pictures that I liked but they weren't really of the sunset.  The sunrises on my way to work each morning and if I could just pull over and stop traffic (and not kill hundreds of people in the process) I could get some really great shots of downtown Dallas as the sun comes up.  But I've never found a safe spot on the freeway to pull over and there's never an accident slowing down traffic to a crawl when the sunrise is really pretty. (I know tacky of me wishing for an accident on a pretty sunrise day, but what can I say).  So anyway, here are my sunset pictures and one that's not a sunset picture but it has the sun in it and I love it and wanted to share.  Want to see more gorgeous sunset pictures, check out the wonderfully talented folks over at I Should Be Folding Laundry.

The sunset through my fence. 

A close-up of the sunset through my fence.

Just a girl and her dog. So ok, this one was created by a sunset, so that should count.

And this final one. The sun and all it's glory, hidden behind a sunflower (and power lines, I could've cropped them out, but I kinda dig them).

Anybody out there in the mood to vote?

If you are, head on over to Greeblemonkey to cast you vote for the November Greebliepix November photo contest.  You have to vote by Thursday.  Just to throw this out there, I'm throwing my weight behind Kelli H.  I just like her picture, but if you go over and vote, I assure you that you can pick whichever one you like!  Maybe one day I'll be begging you guys to vote for me! Haha!  Click Here to Vote!!

11.17.09 Photo of the Day

I love my job! Since our headquarters and our culinary center all office out of the same building, we quite frequently get to sample all kinds of bad for you foods. This day, however, it was relatively healthy. I figure since there's fruit, that make it healthy... just ignore the homemade whipped cream and pound cake. : )

11.16.09 Photo of the Day

So the weather outside is frightful... Well it's cold for Texas, so that's my excuse to make my mom's famous gumbo. Take these three ingredients and a pound of shrimp and YUM! As a matter of fact my mouth is watering right now!

Plus, I get real excited when I post photos on the same day!!

It's on order!!

And I am so excited!  Mine is going to look just like this one, only instead of Parker, it's going to have 08.08.08.  Since Ditz wouldn't buy me one for my birthday, I bought it myself!!  The Vintage Pearl Has tons more styles to choose from if you are in the market for a Christmas gift!

Scrapbook Pages (It's been awhile since I have posted!)