|{ Work Stress and Day 3 }|

Every 2 weeks at work I get a call about how I am doing with my quality as well as my productivity.  While my productivity is getting better my quality is dropping a ton!! I am making more mistakes than ever and I really dread those calls! Every other week I fear I hear those awful words.. "This isn't working out...you're fired."  I've never been fired so that would really suck, not to mention I really need this job.  I am stressed and worried about it all the time and it's driving me crazy.  So for the next 2 weeks I will be slowing down my productivity to make sure my quality goes up, which is the most important thing.

I'll get it eventually.... I hope.

DAY 3:
YOUR IDEA OF THE PERFECT FIRST DATE

Probably my least favorite question of all of them but I don't want to start off bad my skipping it.

I've had some great first dates and some really not so awesome ones!

My idea of the perfect date isn't what you do but how much you enjoy the other person.  The best first dates are the ones where you can talk and talk and talk and both of you never get tired of it and you just feel really comfortable together.  That's how Jon was, we just clicked immediately! That's the best!  It doesn't matter what you go and do as long as you have fun and enjoy the person you are with! :)

|{ Days 1 and 2 }|

Instead of starting on Day 1 today I thought I would day 1 and 2 so I can just go along with the month...until I get the end of the month of course! Haha.

DAY 1- A PHOTO OF YOURSELF AND A DESCRIPTION OF HOW YOUR DAY WAS:

(Taken in 2007)

My day has been alright.  I am getting over a cold, today is the first day that it isn't so bad, so that's good!  Other than that I have just been working, which went well today! And of course I have been blog stalking, which is my favorite thing to do on the internet! :)


DAY 2- TELL US ABOUT YOUR JOB:


Well, I work as a medical transcriptionist.  I had to get certified to do it and that took about 9 months to finish.  I get to work from home (which is the main reason I decided to do it) and I work a full time 40 hour  week, Tuesday through Saturday!  It can be hard sometimes, mostly just to stay focused, but other than that I really enjoy it and I'm glad to be able to be bringing in some money while my Med School Student Husband can't work! :)

|{ A 30 Day Blog Challenge }|

My friend Jamie is doing this on her blog and I thought it was such a great idea! Plus it will get me to post everyday for a whole month (which I might struggle with on the weekends but we'll see :D)

Day 1 - A photo of yourself and a description of how your day was.
Day 2 – Tell us about your job. 
Day 3 – Your idea of the perfect first date. 
Day 4 – Your favorite photograph of your best friend. 
Day 5 – A photo of yourself two years ago. 
Day 6 – A photo of an animal you’d love to keep as a pet. 
Day 7 – Your dream wedding. 
Day 8 – A song to match your mood. 
Day 9 – A photo of the item you last purchased. 
Day 10 – A photo of your favorite place to eat. 
Day 11 – What’s in your makeup bag? 
Day 12 – A photograph of the town you live in. 
Day 13 – Your favorite musician and why? 
Day 14 – A TV show you’re currently addicted to. 
Day 15 – Something you don’t leave the house without. 
Day 16 – Your celebrity crush. 
Day 17 – A photo of you and your family. 
Day 18 – Something you crave a lot. 
Day 19 – Another picture of yourself. 
Day 20 – The meaning behind your blog name. 
Day 21 – A photo of something that makes you happy. 
Day 22 – A letter to someone who has hurt you recently. 
Day 23 – 15 facts about you. 
Day 24 – A photo of something that means a lot to you. 
Day 25 – What’s in your purse? 
Day 26 – A photo of somewhere you’ve been to. 
Day 27 – A picture of you last year and now and how have you changed since then? 
Day 28 – Your favorite movie. 
Day 29 - Your biggest Pet Peeve 
Day 30 – Something you could never get tired of doing. 

|{ It's An Honor }|

A few days ago my brother and his fiancee asked me to be their wedding photographer!! I am so honored and excited to do it but I am also scared out of my mind!! A wedding is a big deal and I am NOT a professional, as much as I love photography there is so much I don't know and you really don't want to screw up a wedding!

So for the next month I will be doing as much studying and practice as I possibly can!! For all of you lovely photographers and fellow bloggers out there, any tips would be greatly appreciated!

Also, I am trying to figure out how to adjust the white balance in Photoshop Elements 8 and can't seem to figure it out, so any tips on that would be awesome!

BIGGEST WORRY-  I really suck at indoor photos (mostly due to lighting) and the reception is in a church house (no windows).  Please help me figure out how to make pictures look good there! I am also planning on buying a larger flash for my camera, what do you use for your external flash?

Anyway, even though I am worried, I am definitely very excited too!! :) It should be fun!!

Catching up on my daily photos!!

Day#22

Day#23

This is my view everyday.

Day#24

Jon drew on my arm, it took me 3 days to get it all the way off! :)

Day#25

Day#26

(Besides the bad quality) We hit 90,000 miles on our car!

Day#27

Jon's sushi 'mise en place'

Day#28

 A love note on my white board!

Day#29

My lovely lady!

Day#30

Our favorite notebook!! We have been playing Nancy Drew on the computer for a while now and we keep our notes in this notebook! We just finished Nancy Drew:  Ransom of the Seven Ships! 

Day#31

A lovely store here in Ann Arbor where you can buy things.. well, obviously.. By the Pound.  It's wonderful! Lots of spices and grains and wonderfulness!

|{ Falling For Niagara }|

Last weekend Jon and I decided to take a drive up to see Niagra Falls!! Neither of us had ever been to Canada, so that was cool to visit another country, even if it was just Canada.  It might have been prettier but we decided to go in January, haha.  So we took the 5.5 hour or so drive up to Niagra Falls.  We had not been on a long drive like that in a while and it was a lot of fun! We listened to the newest Artemis Fowl book on CD and munched on snacks!

(They use km/h! Weird!)

It was really cold, being January :), but was so much fun!! The falls looked so awesome!! They were partially frozen and it was gorgeous!  For those who have been and I know that you will ask, we saw it from the Canada side, which we had been told was the better side.  We have no say though since we haven't seen the New York side.  Anyway!! We got as close as we could to the water, which was really close, and it was so scary looking!! With ice chunks in the water and then shooting off the edge of the falls, it was like you were looking at the edge of the earth! Crazy!!

A rainbow!

I love everything about this picture!

Since it's cold, the water that gets sprayed into the air from the falls lands on everything and it all froze!! Even the trees had lovely frozen lines all over them!! I imagine it was similar to the ice storms I've heard so much about but have yet to see here in Michigan! It was amazing!!!

This was one of my very favorite pictures of the day!

These pretty weeds collected balls of ice on them! They look like big pearls!

We had a super great time and can't wait to go back when it's warm! :)  (You can click on the pictures to make them bigger!)

|{ Pictures and Plans }|

We had a lovely week this week!

On Monday we went to Niagara Falls (post coming soon), we think a kitty is living under our house, we had the most delightful dinner, our cats made us laugh, all of our favorite TV shows started up again including Lie to Me, The Mentalist, White Collar, The Office, and Modern Family, and this weekend should be filled with fun and friends as well! :)

Day#14

Jon at his desk studying, blowing bubble gum, and being taken over by felines.


Day#15

Before we finally got around to rewashing and folding the towels the cats made a nice little bed out it, then Jon tucked them in for a good days sleep.

Day#16

My amazing husband surprised me and bought me Sims 3 (which I have been wanting since it first came out) and it is AWESOME!! For any Sims fans out there who have not played it yet you should! It is amazingly better and more detailed than 1 and 2! So fun!

Day#17

Everything was covered in ice at Niagara Falls due to the spray coming off of the water and the cold temperatures!

Day#18

She just looked so pretty and I was camera happy.

Day#19

A look into my daily life, a heater which sits right next to my desk to keep me toasty when it's cold, which it always is.

Day#20

MMM!! SUSHI!! We had the missionaries over for dinner and when Jon asked them what their favorite food was one said sushi (jokingly, because who would serve them sushi), and when the other didn't look so pleased with that idea Jon suggested Italian as well.  They were very impressed and surprised!  So we had a very mismatched but amazing meal of Sushi, Pesto Calabrese, and Steak! It reminded me of the movie Signs when they make that big meal with all the stuff that doesn't go together, like it was their last meal.  This would be my death day meal! Tasty!

Day#21

See the footprints?!?! I saw a kitty climb under our house!! We think he might live there! Or at least visit occasionally! We were pretty sure there was something under there and were pleased to find out it was a cute black and white kitty and not a possum!!

So, now that I am caught up on pictures we can move on a little! :)

First of all, CONGRATULATIONS to Josh and Taleya (from the wedding I recently went to) who just found out they are expecting a baby!! He/she should makes its way into the world around the middle of September!

Second, due to the first thing, Jon and I got to talking again about when we want to start our family and decided we really needed to get on the same page so it wasn't constantly hanging over our heads.  So after a long talk and trying to figure when would be best we have decided that we are officially (no going back) going to start trying to start our own family on August 29th, 2012 (my birthday!)!! Now we are going to focus on getting as prepared (mostly financially) as we possibly can in the next year and a half! I am so thrilled!

|{ Suddenly Life Means So Much }|

Yesterday was a special day for Jonathan and I, January 12, 2007 was the day we met and it's always been fun for us to think back on that day, 4 years ago now, that we first saw each other.  It was a crazy day and talking about it always gets us laughing, we were so silly then, knowing nothing about each other.  It was an amazing day and the start of something truly remarkable.

This song has always reminded me of the day we met and now I'll never have to go back to the day before Jonathan.  :)



Last night we went on a date to celebrate!  We went out to dinner with a gift card that Jon got for helping one of his classmates feed her pets while she was gone over Christmas break.  It was so nice of her to give him something like that and we definitely enjoyed getting out.  I absolutely love downtown Ann Arbor! There is a lot to do and lot to see and it's just fun!  We had a fun time, it's always nice to get away from the house and talk.  Even though we spend a lot of time together at home, I am usually working or he is studying and it's nice to get away from the distractions and concentrate on just the two of us.

After dinner we came home and watched the movie Catfish (so crazy!) and enjoyed our time together! It was marvelous!!

Day#11

Kitty has not been feeling well lately and has been super unsocial.  She found a warm spot in my newly cleaned towels sitting on top of the dryer.  I guess I'll just have to wash them again.  :)

Day#12

I wore this necklace on our first date and it has been broken for quite a while now but I didn't have the heart to throw it away.  Jon fixed it for me a few days ago so I wore it on our date!

Day#13

My favorite mug!! Nothing like a warm drink on a cold day.  I love Peter Pan! (Not Tinkerbell, specifically Peter Pan. :) ) My dream is to decorate our someday future child's nursery/bedroom with a Peter Pan theme.  How perfect is that?! 

A Long Lovely Walk

Jon and I decided that we really missed walking.  We walked EVERYWHERE when we were in Italy and now we never do.  So we decided that on Monday's, since he usually doesn't have required classes and it's my day off, we would take a walk up to the grocery store and back.

Yesterday was our first time and it was awesome!! It took us a little over an hour in walking time, an hour and a half including time spent in the store.  By the time we got back we were sore and it was awesome! Yay for doing something active, in the snow even!! It was awesome!! I had to by a headband when were there because my ears froze on the way. I hate that, it hurts so bad!  It was really fun and I can't wait to do it again!

Jon is sick right now and I feel so bad for him.  He really really hates being sick and I really hope he feels better soon!  I watched the video he had to watch on his anatomy lab today and it looked so gross!! All the insides were this nasty tanish gray color! Eww!!

Anyway! Here are my pictures from the last few days!

Day#8

Flowers I bought for Jon for one of his 12 days of Christmas gifts.

Day#9

Macro pic of my kitties feet.  She always sits on the router because it's warm.  What a dorkus!

Day#10

I was laughing because it took us a few tries to get the picture right, this is us at Meijer on our walk!!

First Weekend Of 2011

Happy First Weekend of 2011!!!  Jon and I don't have much planned this weekend, in fact I think we are getting sick.  But that's okay, hopefully it will at least wait a few more days!  On Sunday we are hoping to bug bomb our house.  We found fleas on our cats and we have NO IDEA how they got there since they are strictly inside cats, so we want to make sure, now that they are gone, that there are no more in the house that can get on them.  That also means we have to leave the house for about 4 hours total, with our pets.  So we are going to go over to our friend's, Katie and Doug, house and hang out with them for a bit!

I am loving my new work schedule, I can't remember if I mentioned it before but I was working from 1 in the afternoon until 9 at night.  I am now working from 9 in the morning, until 5 at night.  It is SO much better!! I still work Tuesday through Saturday, but that's okay. :)

I also realized that of all the things I have started doing in relation to my blog, my weight loss challenge, my Julie/Julia project, posting 6/7 days of the week with different things, even My Husband Rocks Friday, I have not completed!! I am really bad at stuff like that!!

It makes me nervous I won't be able to finish doing my Picture a Day challenge but it also makes me more determined to do it, and it's not that hard, so I can't really complain right?!

So far so good, I have taken a picture everyday! :)

Day#3

I finished the 1500 piece puzzle I started on Christmas!  Jon ended up not helping because it was too hard with all the colors.  Poor guy.

Day#4

It snowed!!

Day#5

We barbecued burgers for dinner... in January! :)

Day#6

We gave our cats baths (to help get rid of the fleas) and Asrielle bit me...really hard!

Day#7

After spending over an hour driving around lost yesterday, Jon spent a long time today making me a map of Ann Arbor and all the places we usually go! He's a life saver! :)

A Picture A Day

So this year, for the next 365 days, I am going to post a picture a day! Or at least take a picture everyday and then post them periodically!

I thought this would be a fun way to capture my day and what goes on in my life, plus it will give me a challenge so that things don't get too boring and maybe I can feel some sort of accomplishment.

I know that today is the 3rd, I didn't decide to do this until today but I do have pictures from the 1st and the 2nd.  So I'll take a picture sometime today and really get this ball rolling!!

I would love to have you join me, so let me know if you decide you want to do it as well so I can follow you!! :)

Pardon that these are both of my cats.

Day#1:

Day#2