Day 22

3 Weeks! I've made it 3 weeks :) WOOHOOO! Today is supposed to be a day of rest but how come I never get to rest on Sunday? It ain't fair, I tell you! :) Shana and I worked on homework (term paper for her, grading for me) while it rained cats & dogs outside. Can't believe Thanksgiving is come and past! WOW time flies! Back to school until Dec. 23 when we finally get a much deserved break, though shorter than normal. Oh well. Hoping to see some snow soon -- it sure doesn't feel like the end of November since we haven't seen any snow yet! Pretty crazy. In March, though, I'll be saying I'm tired of the snow so I better enjoy each day as it comes! Off to get ready for another week of school. My students better be prim and proper tomorrow or they're out of my room. I'm all geared up for Algebra -- if ANY of them ever embarrass me in front of my boss again........ no good can come of it, that's for sure. Can't wait to instill in them the fear of death. Wish me luck.

*Shana & I working hard (or hardly working...you decide!)

Day 21 -- November 28

Oh another day of shopping! Still avoided the crowds! Just fun to be out and about! Here are a couple shots from the day!



*Nice Hats...

Day 20

BLACK FRIDAY! Shana & Chey spent the night last night and we headed to Walmart about midnight to get some yarn for Shana to make a scarf for her mom. When we called to see how late the new Walmart was open the lady said very depressingly, "We're Walmart...We never close..." HAHAH Saw a bunch of people already lined up for the Black Friday sales that weren't starting until 5am! We didn't go out shopping today until after 1:oopm! It was nice to not have to deal with so many crowds. Got some good deals :) My mom was on a mission to find a pillow (she's already returned 2 that she hasn't liked....). We spent a lot of time in the pillow aisle with images of her doing this...... Overall fun day though! Off to shop again tomorrow ;)


*Mom testing out a pillow...




*Testing out another one.... haha




*Awww Lennal ;)




*Grandma, Mom & I -- 3 generations of friends!

Day 19 -- November 26

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! I have so much to be thankful for this year and every year as God continues to bless me with an amazing family, a great job and good health! I am also very blessed to be able to have so many memories with family and friends!



Today we chilled around the house and made food for Thanksgiving dinner until we went to my Gma & Gpa Jones' around 4 where my Gma & Gpa C, Mom, Dad, Aunt Cyndi, Uncle Scott, Aunt Ann, Shana, Chey, Chase, Austin, Alissa, Brent and I shared dinner :) YUMMY food! It was a very interesting evening! Austin, Shana, Alissa, Chase and Cheyenne played Twister for a while (it seems as if the Twister mat has shrunk...). We also played a crazy and competitive game of Kemps -- what a great card game! It's not a great game though until someone get's mad! Haha. Austin & Alissa won, though...after a few rounds of cheating....



Austin was in rare form following my dad's dress-up show of going through his mother's basement closet and finding a variety of outfits from years ago. Like father, like son, Austin followed suit and showed off his witts after hitting the closet too.

Day 18 -- November 25

Well, today we had a half-day at school and I was able to leave by 10:45am! WOOHOO! It ended up being a pretty busy day (I went to Meijer with mom and then over to Jo-Ann's...) and I forgot to take a picture! I knew the day was going to come! AHHH I did happen to snap a blurry pic on my phone of this giant christmas tree bulb (bright purple!!!) at Jo-Ann's. Guess it'll have to do for today! I did enjoy getting yarn at the store though and started knitting a cable scarf which (if all goes well) will be followed by a cable hat and cable mittens to match :) We'll see!!!!

Day 17 -- November 24

Conferences are over and done with for another year! I met with 25 students' families over the course of the two days! A bunch of teachers went out after Tuesday night's conferences to a place called Original Gravity. Great times!


*Packard, Zupi & Price at Original Gravity



*McVeigh, McCaman, Rodriguez & Wilson at O.G. :)

Day 16 -- Nov. 23

*Oh how much I love conferences.....

Day 15

Nothing too exciting today :) Just a typical Sunday afternoon -- relaxing around the house and getting ready for the week! Here's a couple pics from the afternoon! I hope to get out my 50D this week and get some great pictures over holiday. I love my little camera but I definitely LOVE my 50D and want to get used to using it often!

Day 14

This weekend is supposed to be the last warmer (50 degrees) weekend of the season. Snow is expected next week (YAY)! Ran out of the house about 11:40 to this creepy deep rumbling sound to see 2 fighter jets flying over the house. They ended up flying over 4 more times, some higher, some lower where you could see the cockpit and missle launchers! The 5th and final time they flew over, they made it over UofM Stadium to kick off the UofM vs. OSU matchup! What a cool thing to be in the flight path! They flew over the house earlier in the week too and turned right in front of my window! I could see the cockpit pretty well! It's so amazing how the loudest and lowest sound follows them. You can hear them even 2 and 3 minutes after they've gone by! Amazing window-shaking bass that follows those fighter jets! So cool! What a great start to a busy Saturday. Much on the to-do list today as conferences are Monday and Tuesday! It's so hard to believe that Thanksgiving is RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER! I love the holiday season! It's almost time for Christmas music and lights and snow and mittens and gloves.... :-D Yay!!!!



*Tundra (front) and Sekoia (back) are best buddies! They enjoyed playing outside today in the beautiful (though unseasonably warm) fall day. I can't believe it's this warm on November 21st! Winter will be here soon enough!




*Sekoia



*Sekoia


*Sekoia

*Tundra

Day 13 -- Nov. 20

New Moon premier today! Mom, Aunt Ann, Shana, Chey & I have been waiting a whole year for this! And boy was it worth it! GREAT MOVIE! Saw it twice in a row (gotta love tradition) :) Can't wait for Eclipse, spring 2010!!!!



*Me, Shana and Chey waiting in line for the 7:00 showing of The Twilight Saga: New Moon. Oh, what a night!

Day 12

*Baked some chocolate chip cookies today! Just sounded good. And SMELLED BETTER!

*This word is on our wall above "a journey to forever". It's on a lighter green wall. I had fun playing with it in photoshop, adjusting the contrast, saturation, adding filters, etc. I'm pretty pleased with the results :) Plus - the word totally describes me and what I'm all about!

Day 11

Typical fall day in Michigan -- chance of rain, overcast skies and the sound of Combines collecting grain from the fields. Gotta love living in the country!


*Overcast skies over the cornfield down the road...

Day 10

Austin's hair has been getting LONG... I think that he could have donated it to locks of love... hahaha It was definitely like a helmet -- and he LIKED IT! Until today. Today, he decided he a) wanted it cut; b) wanted my dad to cut it; and c) wanted it to look like it had in high school. Whew! What a task for some motley hair! Here are some pics from the Jones Barber Shop located in the main bathroom! haha (He'll shave his beard when he shoots a buck...)

*PLEASE CUT YOUR HAIR!

*Oh, brother...

*Barber Jones...

*Still got a lot of hair on that head...

*The pic he said he wanted his hair to look like again...

*The finished product! Will he be a return customer?

Day 9

I'm going to have to quit taking pics of my dogs...I MUST get out more and take pics! We'll see how that goes... For now, here's the puppy!

*Very interested in the camera...Oh Sekoia...

Day 8

I've made it a week! Yay! But they say it takes 21 times to make a habit...2 more weeks and I should be golden :) Let's hope I can keep this up! Today is just a few pics of me with fam! Gotta love them!



*Chase & I -- He's getting so big!

*Shana & I -- My little college student!

*Nice fingernails, Brent...




*Chey & I -- oh the adventures we have!

Day 7

Cheyenne and I set out on a mini roadtrip today. I had heard that Peter Facinelli (Dr. Carlisle Cullen from Twilight & New Moon) was going to be signing autographs at a mall about 40 minutes away. Chey was, of course, in for the ride! We found out this morning though that they were charging $25 for an autograph and $40 for a picture with him! AHH We don't have that kind of money! On the whim that we didn't even know if we could see him from a distance and in chase of a good adventure, we headed that way anyways. We ended up being able to see him, very well actually. The lines were CRAZY long but we had fun nonetheless listening to the dj and taking stalker pictures of him on stage :) Here are a couple pics from our adventures (both at the mall and in the car!)

*Dr. Carlisle Cullen (really - Peter Facinelli) -- GORGEOUS!

*The HOT Doghouse...LOVE IT! Check out the phone number!!! ;)

*Peace'in it out the sunroof...Look at that blue sky!

Day 6

Oh Friday the 13th.... Thought I'd do something a little different with my picture today and take it off of the iMac that we use at school for editing video...

*I've finally lost my head!

Day 5

Well, after my start to the day (falling, no SLIDING head first down the hallway in front of the cafeteria at 7:20 this morning) I've needed a little bit of inspirational words... Thus the goal for my pics today. Tomorrow will be better...Tomorrow MUST be better.



*A perfect scripture for the day. Sometimes I forget that He sees the WHOLE picture and I only see what I want to see...


*From my mom... :) So cute! My current ringtone is "You Make Me Smile" by Uncle Kracker -- you gotta listen to it...It's great! Always a spirit-lifter :)

Day 4

November 11, 2009:

Took a day off from work (a mental health day)....got caught up on some grading (Quarter 1 grades were due today)...Can't believe that we are already 9 weeks in to school and part way through November! WOW! Still don't feel completely rejuvinated...oh well, I guess. I just want to get out of this down-type-attitude I've had recently. Oh well! It'll get better, I'm sure.

*Tundra & Sekoia's daily routine -- keeping an eye out for what's going on outside from atop my bed...

*Just thought this looked kind of cool through my window. Plus, it's close to 70 degrees on November 11! CRAZY! Where's my autumn???? Here's hoping winter brings lots of snow :)

Day 3

November 10, 2009:

*Tundra, 7 yrs old, hanging out in the living room...


*Sekoia loves to play tug-o-war...She's finally getting strong enough to pull your arm out of socket! She's SO big for 10 months old!!!

Day 2

November 9, 2009:

*Taking a break from my day and escaping with Edward...



*The BEAUTIFUL sunrise on my way to work this morning! Tried to snap these out the window as I drove down the dirt roads...they're a little out of focus but the color was too spectacular not to include!

Day 1

I want to document my 25th year on this earth in pictures. My goal is to take and post at least 1 picture a day for the next year. Why, you say? Well, I'd like to make sure I take more pictures to remember my days by. I'd also like to improve my photography skills and what better way than to get behind your camera at any chance. Last, I think it'll be fun to compile all the pics at the end of the year and see what I accomplished!




Our free dessert (for my birthday) at Lonestar! It didn't take us long to finish it!