Playing Around

I've had fun playing around with my new camera.  I'll admit I haven't gotten past using the automatic settings but I promise I will venture out of my comfort zone eventually.  One of my goals this weekend is to do at least one tutorial.

In the meantime, here are some random shots I've taken.  I'm pretty happy with the results - even with the automatic settings & no digital retouching. 

Love those blue eyes

 Had to get one of Sadie Dog

 I think he's plotting something here...

 Morning bedhead!

 Whatcha doing, mama?

 Yum

So far, I'm pretty happy with my purchase.  No buyer's remorse here!

Pantry Organization

One of our favorite things about our house is the walk in pantry.  We fell in love with it the first time we saw the house.  And we still love it.  I think it will be a very high priority for our next house as well.  However, we did not love the state of our pantry.  Over the years, it has become full & cluttered.  Such a nice big space - how in the world is it overflowing with stuff?

A few months ago, I stumbled across a blogger who reorganized her pantry.  Her pantry resembles ours in several ways & I fell in love with her results.  I started gathering a few tools with the goal of tackling our pantry organization - a basket for chips & whatnot, some plastic bins for the floor (I wanted to use wire baskets like she did but didn't find any), square canisters (asked for these for Christmas & I love them!) & an expand-a-shelf for cans.

Last weekend, I sent Alex to my parents' house & set out to finish this project.  It was a daunting task & I got overwhelmed several times.  Luckily, Michael decided to help & we didn't even get into many arguments (ha).  We took a break to buy a few more baskets & grab lunch.  Finally, we were done!

I guess I'll start with the before pictures.  I'll apologize in advance.  These make me cringe - especially since I now know the potential of our pantry.  How did we let it become this:

*Shudder*  Ok, please erase that from your memory.  It's not how I want to be remembered.  Instead, think of me like these pictures - organized, clean & put together.

Much better!  I still need to get two more black bins, for some more miscellaneous items, & to put labels on the canisters but overall, I am so happy with the result.  Plus, we've actually made places for things so we know where new stuff goes.  I think that's one of the most important aspects of organizing - setting up a system, so you can keep the space looking good.

For anyone wondering, the canisters & expand-a-shelf were from the Container Store, the stackable black bins were from Walmart & the baskets were from Target.

My next organization project?  Paper files - ugh.  I found this post to motivate me.  My goal is to tackle this in the next month or two.  We'll see...  For now I think I'll just enjoy my lovely pantry.  J

YAY!!

After months of having this on my Amazon wish list, I finally broke down & bought myself a new toy.

A Canon EOS Rebel T1i SLR camera!!  I think the new model is getting ready to come out, so the price on this one dropped over $100!  It has great reviews & was recommended by a photographer my co-worker knows.  Also at the photographer's suggestion, I bought the camera body only & separately purchased the 50mm 1.8 lens.  This should allow me to take photos in lower light & create a nice blurred background.

So far I've figured out how to:

-Charge the battery
-Attach the camera strap
-Attach the lens (actually Michael did this while I was reading the manual, but I assume I can do it also)
-Turn it on
-Take a picture using the automatic settings
-Review my pictures & delete the ones I don't want

That's about it.  I've been putting off buying an SLR camera because I was scared I wouldn't learn how to use it correctly & I'd just end up using it like a point & shoot.  I'm still scared - I have a lot to learn.  But I'm excited about the potential.  Now I just need someone to come over & show me how to use it!  Any takers?  J

Christmas Cards

I saw an idea on Pinterest a few months ago on how to make a Christmas card wreath.  I immediately wanted to try it because I struggle every year with the cards we receive.  I used to have a handy holder from Pier 1, but it broke several years ago.  Since then I've put the cards haphazardly on our fireplace mantle, but they'd usually fall off at some point causing a domino effect & a mess.  I read the instructions on how to make the wreath & thought - "I think I can actually do this!"

And I was right!

Here's the original idea with the instructions.  Everything went according to plan except my circle isn't quite as uniform & nice as hers.  Oh well, I'm happy with the result.



By Christmas, the wreath was very full.  I didn't use all the clips but it was a little bit of a challenge to get all the cards on there without covering up the pictures.  But I thought it looked much better than putting them on the mantle.  Hurray!

I also figured out what to do with past Christmas cards using Pinterest.  I never wanted to throw away the ones with pictures, so I'd put them with my Christmas decorations each year.  I saw the idea to make little books using binder rings or ribbon. 

I elected to use binder rings.  I grouped the cards by year & put the little books on the coffee table for people to flip through.  I love it!  Much better than sitting at the bottom of a box...

Thank you, Pinterest, for making me look crafty! 

For Your Enjoyment...

At Alex's party, we hung up a door banner so we could take everyone's picture.  We gave away these picture magnets at the party & my plan was to mail a copy of each person's picture with the thank you card.  Then people could put the picture on their fridge using the magnet.  Genius!  Except for the fact that several of the frames were meant to be horizonal instead of vertical.  Oh well, I tried to be creative...

I'm not sure how many of our attendees want these photos posted on the internet, so I'll just show you the ones of us.  Enjoy!

What can I say?  We love to monkey around...  Sorry, I couldn't resist!  J

Throwback Thursday

I have less than a month of entries left in the journal I kept on my computer during my pregnancy.  I didn't have anything written down for the last few days before Alex was born, so I'll just go off my memory to bring you to the inevitable birth story (don't worry - I had a great experience & I won't go into any gross details).  Anyway, here's another round of entries.

November 13^th

Michael ran in a 5K race in the morning.  Then we went to a housewarming party that afternoon.  It was fun, but we didn’t know many people there.  We were supposed to meet a friend at Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the OSU vs. Texas game, but got held up at the housewarming party.  We finally got away & headed to BWW.  Michael’s dad & brother met us there, too.  We were super nervous watching the game (we haven’t beat Texas in way too many years), but we dominated the game & won!  Hurray!!!  

November 14^th – 36 weeks

Michael made habanero & serrano pepper jelly.  We bought canning jars, so we could give it away for Christmas presents.  He did a great job & it was delicious!  I don’t know if I want to give it away – I want to eat it myself.  I went to yoga (hadn’t been in two weeks since there was no class on Halloween & last week we were out of town).  My hands have been sore ever since.  I’ve started to notice that my joints are more spongy too.  My relaxin levels must be high!  Amanda came over after yoga to watch Dexter.  This season is getting crazy!

November 16^th

Had my work baby shower today.  The girls took some of the money they collected & got a lot of stuff off our Babies R Us registry.  Sweet!  And we still got a Target gift card & some cash with what was left over.  I think we’re finally getting close to being ready for this kid!

November 18^th

Had my weekly doctor appointment.  Everything is going good!

I had never heard of relaxin until I got pregnant.  It's apparently a hormone that your body produces during pregnancy to soften inflexible parts to make room for the baby, etc.  It also makes your joints looser, so you're advised to be careful when exercising to not overstretch your ligaments.  I first read about it in a pregnancy book & because I'm very mature, I couldn't help but giggle.  The word just makes me laugh.  I proceeded to tell Michael that I was unable to clean or do laundry because of the relaxin.  Can't you just picture a pregnant woman lounging around telling everyone she's relaxing due to the relaxin?  No?  Just me?  Anyway, my mention of relaxin above made me think of that...

Here's my prego picture from November.

Don't mind me...  I'm just smuggling a basketball under my shirt.  Ha.

Happy Thursday!

Twelve Months

I just realized that I never did a "Twelve Months" post with Alex's monthly picture.  Oops!  I guess I posted about his party & forgot about the rest...

These were taken the morning of his birthday, which was also the day of his party.  Once again, I had my hands full trying to get a good picture of him & the sign.  He thought it was way more fun to throw the paper off the chair rather than sit for a nice picture...

 But among the many silly pictures, I got a good one!

We've come a long way since that first month.  It may be harder to get the photo I want, but I don't mind.  That little boy is just so much fun!