Ten on Tuesday!

 

I can't believe I am actually doing a Ten on Tuesday list.  I think my last one was before summer!  Life has definitely been busy!  My list is really random which explains the state of my life these days. I'm running in a thousand different directions it seems.  Okay, here goes:

1.  Our Rachel is graduating from college in less than 7 weeks!  7  Weeks!  Wow! She is graduating an entire semester early.  We are so very proud of her!

2.  Hannah's last year of high school basketball officially started last week.  We cannot wait to see her on the court again. Praying they all have a wonderful year and act like the team that they can be!

3.  Speaking of Hannah.  She is the Drum Major for the band, 2nd year in a row, and they earned a Division 1 at Marching Contest!  There was much pressure this year as they have earned Division 1 Ratings every year that she has been in high school. Lots of practices, Saturday preliminary band competitions, late nights, and a lot of sweat, tears, and a few moments of pure joy.  We are so very proud of her leadership and her determination.

4.  My favorite coffee right now is dark French Roast with Pumpkin Spice creamer.  Yum!  Have you seen the new Keurigs?  They now make pots of coffee.  Hmmmm

5.  Only three more weeks until my new Iphone arrives.  My old iphone daily dies at 40% battery.  Why?!

6.  I am so thankful for my new Studio!  I cannot believe I haven't shared pictures yet.  What a blessing it is!

7.  Baylor Homecoming is this weekend and I am so excited!  They are trying to stripe the stadium.  Our section is wearing gold.  Fun!

8.  I am ready to decorate for Christmas now.  I know!  Only a few more weeks and it's time!

9.  I've heard that we are bound to have a rough winter.  Well, rough-for-Texas kind of weather.  I'm thinking I may need these boots.  Okay, not need, but maybe want.  But, what color?  Decisions, decisions.

10.  I made it to 10 things.  I actually had time to stop and type for a few minutes.  I impressed myself.  Ha! Back to editing pictures.   Ya'll have a blessed day!

Ten on Tuesday

1.  The exclusive Easter Sessions were announced yesterday and we are nearly sold out!  I have a few openings, but please don't wait!

2.  Speaking of Easter, the bunnies may have just had baby bunnies on one of the coldest days of the year.  OIY!  We will see, but how fun to have baby bunnies at our Easter sessions.

3.  

Are you watching The Voice? We love that show!!!  On our trip to New York, we found these chairs from the Voice and had to do our best interpretation.  Love my man!

4.  Did you watch the Oscars Sunday night?  It's always fun to see the parade of dresses and jewelry. I watched it in my Wichita State sweatshirt....so glamorous!

5.  Speaking of Wichita State!  They are the ONLY undefeated college basketball team in the country.  So cool!  My dad is a WSU graduate!

6.  I am ready for March Madness!!!  I always have fun filling out a bracket and keeping up with the progress on my iphone.  Growing up my initials were KU.  I can remember thinking as a child that I simply had to go to KU because those were my initials and being from Kansas, that seemed the thing to do.  Funny!  KU is good, but WSU is doing much better this year.  I may pick them to win it all!  And who knows if our Baylor bears will even make the big show this year.

7.  Remember my bout with pneumonia this fall?  A few weeks ago, I had an instant 102 fever, cough, and I felt awful.  I didn't think I would ever be as sick as I was this fall.  Through many tears, I started the process of seeing doctors again trying to avoid pneumonia. Thankfully, the bronchitis didn't turn in to pneumonia!  But, there were a few scares.  God graciously walked with me through each one of those tests and they all turned out to be negative.  Praise the Lord!

8.  I felt better this weekend than I have in weeks!!! I tried not to overdo, but it felt so good to feel like myself again.  I even had time to get my eyebrows tamed.  And then I didn't feel so good after that.  I'm kidding!

9.  Did you see the movie Gravity?  I watched it while my family was at the State Basketball tournament this weekend.  Sandra Bullock did a fantastic job, I'm surprised she didn't win best actress.  I  have to admit, there were scenes in that movie that made me feel a bit claustrophobic.  As a computer teacher, I loved the graphics!

10.  My man is an incredible omelet maker.  They are seriously delicious and always turn out so perfectly.  Me?  Not so much!  I made myself an omelet Sunday morning while my family was still out of town.  It started off okay....and then quickly turned to hash.  Here is a very blurry iphone picture.  It may have looked yucky, but it tasted pretty good!

Ten on Tuesday

1. Where did January go? Seriously, we are nearly halfway through February already. My head is spinning! 2. My baby is 17 years old. 17! Be still my heart!

3. I was just 17 yesterday....okay it feels that way. The person in the mirror would disagree though.

4. I am pretty excited about my Valentine gift to my sweetheart this year!!! He will be so excited. Normally we don't do big gifts for Valentine's Day (okay, I don't give big gifts) but this year is exciting!

5. I have officially exercised 5 days a week for the past month! I am on week 5 and I am so proud of myself. I haven't stuck to an exercise plan like this since I played 5A basketball and volleyball in high school....a long time ago!

6. This is our weather forecast! Cold with a chance of ice and sleet, but look at Sunday's forecast! Wow!

7.  We are loving watching the Olympics from the comforts of our own home.  Have you read the stories about athletes getting locked in their rooms, bathrooms, and elevators.  Scary!

8.  Speaking of Olympics, every time the announcer shouts go, or begin, I always hear, "A La Cuisine!"  From Iron Chef.  My family laughs because you may just hear me hollering it.

9.  For the past 4 years, I have wanted our high school media students to participate in the annual Google Doodle Scholarship program. This year, I received an email asking if we would like to enter.  YES!!!!  All week long my media students are passionately searching for their answer to, "If I could invent one thing to make the world a better place...."  It's a big deal to enter the contest, and quite another to win. The winning school will receive a $50,000 technology grant and the winning student receives a $30,000 college scholarship.  Wow!  I cannot wait to see their finished projects!

10.  My dad's birthday was this past Thursday.  I think it is pretty special that he and Hannah have birthdays so close.  They are kindred spirits in so many ways!

Ten on Tuesday

1. Have you seen the Oscar Mayer Carving commercial?  Cracks me up every time! 2.  Pencils in a pretty polka-dot mug makes me smile....can you tell I am a teacher?

3.  Speaking of things that make me smile!  I am always, always on the computer!  I teach high school computer classes and run the school's website but I also have my photography business where I am constantly editing pictures, designing albums or promo material, plus bookkeeping, etc.  It is hard to keep my nails looking pretty.  Until I found shellac nails!  Love shellac nails.  I can go nearly 3 weeks before I have to pick a new color. Yay!  I've been stuck in a french nail rut and wanted to try something new.  I had this grey color in my mind, not quite black, but not light grey either.  The sweet nail  lady suggested mixing two colors.  Yay!!!  One is an OPI color and the other another brand (#'s 45 and 50).  I love this grey color and I am finding it goes with anything I wear this winter.  Plus, my man thinks it's a sexy color.  Delight!

4.  I have a Pinterest addiction!  Do you Pinterest too?  My Pinterest name is Kikis Corner Blog.  You can see my boards here.  Warning:  It's fun and can quickly eat up a few hours before you know it!

5.  I actually had to explain what floppy disks were to my students last week.  They have only known zip drives and cds/dvds.  Really?!?  Should I dare explain records or 8 tracks???

6.  Almond Milk!  Who knew!  It is delicious in my morning smoothie.  It makes my green drink taste like a high calorie milk shake.  YUM!

7.  We have been eating apples incorrectly for generations!  Seriously!! My dad can eat apples like a champion.  He leaves a perfect apple core. Watching him eat an apple is an art form.  But, he totally needs to watch this video.  Who knew?! (if the link isn't working, click here)

8.  I met with an architect to talk about my dream studio!!!  I'm not sure if we will be able to afford to build the studio now or not, but the planning process is so much fun!!!

9.  We have warmer weather with highs in the 70s and then a day later we have highs of 35 degrees.  The warmer weather makes me excited to plant a spring garden again.  My mouth is watering at the though of home grown tomatoes!!!

10.  Spring gardening makes me think of my calendar.  The month of June is filled with 4 weddings, camps, and family vacations.  It is going to be a fun, yet very full summer!

Ten on Tuesday

Two Ten on Tuesday posts in a row, woo hoo!!!

1. I love to photograph lights and the bokeh that comes with it. Bokeh is the blurred or out of focus areas like you see above. That is our Christmas tree, but you can't tell because of the bokeh. Cool eh?

2. I rented a few lenses before Christmas. And this fish eye was one of them. While I thought it was a really cool lens, I can't see using it for portraits but it sure was fun to play with!

3. I did purchase the lens I have been dreaming about for two years and wow is it heavy on my camera! But, it takes amazingly clear pictures on the basketball court and I'm thinking on the football field this fall. Delight!!!

4. We were in Arizona this month and we will fly to Nevada for a few days next month. I'm liking this travel trend for 2014!

5. Our Bichon, Tinkerbell, hasn't been acting like herself. She is 15 (or will be this October) and we were starting to dread taking her to the vet for fear of what she might suggest. Turns out, Tink is having some lower back pain. Can you blame her, she is over 100 in dog years. Twice a day, she gets to take a little treat that makes the pain subside. We are thankful!!! In the process of trying to figure out what was wrong and why she would cry all night long, we discovered she adores Starbucks as much as we do! So we always get her a cup of water when we drive through. So fun!

6. I say this often! I am blessed with the BEST clients and friends! This was our surprise dinner delivery this week. It was delicious!!! And we are overwhelmed with gratitude for the sweet friends and clients God has blessed us with.

7. I am reading this book and loving it!!!  God loves you, He always has, He always will!!!

8.  It's been too long since I read a good book just because!  It seems I go from teaching high school to photo shoots, to editing pictures, to ordering sessions, to laundry, to.....  I'm thankful for a few stolen moments away with this book.  It is a treasure and a wonderfully incredible reminder that we are dearly loved!  One of my favorite parts from the book, and I have several, talks about God's love being the ocean, although it is even bigger than the ocean.  If we are a fish in His deep ocean of love, we are surrounded, filled, and covered over and over again with His love!  Glory!  I sobbed when I read, He loves us, and He already loves our children, our grandchildren, and our great-grandchildren. What a thought!

9.  Speaking of water, after my awful round of pneumonia this fall, I am determined to take better care of myself.  I can almost see my man's eyes rolling!  I was terribly sick this fall, sick enough to come face to face with the reality that I can't possibly take care of my home, my family, my students, and my clients if I am sick.  That is such a no-brainer thought, but for this people-pleaser who has a hard time saying no to good things and good people, taking care of myself is often on the back burner!  So, I am drinking more water than I thought possible which is really fun trying to find time to go to the bathroom in between classes!  There is a new app I bought for my phone that reminds me to drink my water.  It is called WaterMinder.  It drives me nuts throughout the day, but I really am doing better about drinking my water.  And my hair and my skin are so thankful.

Matt Redman - 10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord) (Official Music Video) from matt-redman on GodTube.

10.  I could listen to Matt Redman's, "10,000 Reasons" song 10,000 times a day and probably still tear up every time.  I adore this song....and don't we all have at least 10,0000 reasons to bless the Lord?!

Ten on Tuesday!

 

I know! Ten on Tuesday, it's been forever! So I'm going to try it...wish me luck! Ha!

1. Basketball Season is in full gear around here! In Tuesday night's game, Hannah had 12 points, a few slams, and several rebounds. Yay!!!

2. Rachel and Carly (the Corgi) are having a blast being back at college. Carly has adjusted well to being a college girl...wasn't she just a newborn puppy last week. Time flies. Ha!

3.  I am loving this new beauty sponge!  In the winter, my skin gets so dry and flakey.  Add water to the sponge and it not only makes putting on my  makeup so much easier, but my skin looks less dry.  YAY!!!  I purchased mine from Amazon but you can also get it here: 

4.  I bought a new candle for Christmas and it is so neat!  Normally, I use my Scentsy, but this candle is fabulous.  The crackling sound and the cool shape of the flame is very relaxing!  It is called a Glass Ribbonwick Candle by Woodwick Candles and you can find them by clicking here. 

5.  Speaking of candles, we have loved our fireplace.  We have had cold weather this year, not nearly as cold as you northerners, but cold nonetheless for our part of Texas.  And even though the high here was 60 Monday night, Hannah and I still lit a fire in the fireplace while we watched a little Dance Moms.

6.  Dance Moms, do you watch?  I'm really not sure why we like to watch this show, but we really do.

7.   The snowman above, is how Hannah wrapped gifts for her sister this year.  Pretty cute and totally creative!

8.  I love snowmen....just not looking like a snowman.  Ha!

9.  I hardly remember what coffee was like before my Keurig!  Can anyone relate?!  I was never really good at making coffee the old fashioned way (Just ask my Uncle Tony) so I am so thankful for a perfect cup of coffee every morning made by my Keurig.  My favorite flavors these days are Pumpkin Spice, Starbucks House Blend, and I like the Kalua.  My family thinks the last one is funny since I'm not really a "drinker."  And while there isn't any alcohol in this coffee, I like to pretend there is.   Ha!  I teach high school, remember?!

10.  I made it to 10!!!  I can't promise you will see 10 things on Tuesday every week, but I'm giving myself a gold star for today.  You get a gold star too if you made it to the end.  Yay!!!  Have a blessed day!