You Capture - Feet

I wasn't sure who's feet I wanted to capture for this assignment, but I knew I didn't want it to be my feet or Jared's (we both have gross long toes). So once again I went to our furry little "daughter" to take pictures of. With all the cat pictures I've been taking lately I'm starting to feel like the crazy cat lady. . . I swear I'm not, she's just around a lot to take pictures of.

Fake Wednesday

Today was fake Wednesday. I worked the hours I normally work on Wednesday, today (Tuesday). Even though I don't work a steady shift (my work schedule is different everyday) it seriously has warped my whole inner time clock thingy. So now I'm sitting here thinking tomorrow is Thursday, when it's actually Wednesday. . .again. :D

I forgot how wonderful it is to not work nights. I seriously didn't know what to do with all the extra time I had this evening. I cooked chicken pot pies with Jared, took Molly on two long walks, watched Jared play God of War, watched Lost, and I had time to write this blog! Amazing, I know.

p.s. The weather was so nice today, yay spring.

p.p.s. The weatherman says it might reach 80 by Friday. . .typical Chicago, we get 3 days of spring and then instant summer. Low 70's is my favorite, we never get many of those days.

Let There Be Light!

Jared and I went shopping this weekend to get some new lighting for the house. I've been looking for a while for matching table lamps for the family room. I really wanted to get two Tiffany style mission lamps, but I had trouble finding ones that I like. . .that and they are insanely expensive! So I ended up picking out some dark wood mission style lamps with just a regular cream colored shade. They were also much more affordable (about 1/3 of the price of the cheapest Tiffany lamp I found). Since I didn't get my Tiffany table lamps we bought a small accent lamp instead to sit on top of the wine server.

We also bought three new exterior lights for the garage and front porch. The lights that we have now are horribly rusted and the finish is chipping off. The new ones that we bought have motion sensors, and a "dusk to dawn" setting which will be really nice.

And finally we also bought some LED lights to install underneath our kitchen cabinets! I'm really excited about those because the back left corner of the kitchen counter is really dark; it will make cooking and reading cook books a lot easier. Not to mention it will just look cool!

So Jared is going to have his hands full next weekend installing the outside lights and the under cabinet lights. I'll be sure to post some pictures when it's all finished.

For Julie

When I'm shopping I'm constantly thinking of my friends when I see items I know they would like. So when I saw this item all I could think

of was, "Oh my gosh, Julie would LOVE this!" Now sadly I haven't seen Julie since college, but I know she reads this blog so I took a picture so she could see this awesome product. I don't know if they have Home Goods stores in Detroit, but clearly it's an awesome place for carrying such an item.

You Capture - A Moment

Well I failed at this weeks assignment, I didn't capture any moments :-( But it did make me think of some old "moment" pictures that I love. So here they are!

Daniela and Greg's niece Emily watching me during their wedding ceremony, she was so adorable. (I did not take this picture, the wedding photographer did)

One of my favorite pictures from my wedding day, a candid moment between Dad and I (I believe Daniela took this picture).

This is a picture I took of Daniela and Greg up in Grand Marais Minnesota before we got caught in a down pour.

I took this picture of Jared on our honeymoon in Turks.

Hopefully I'll do better for next week's assignment. . .feet!

Hablo un poco Espanol

I had a funny thought at work today. . .

Most of you know (but in case you don't) 95% of my patients are Hispanic and either speak very little or no english at all. I took four years of spanish in high school and one more year my freshman year at IU. I was pretty good at spanish after those five years, but if you don't use language you loose it. I didn't speak a word of it again until I got my current job (so. . 8 years? yikes). I am surprised daily at my random vocabulary words that I remember. I've re-learned enough in the past year and a half to update medical histories, medications, teach brushing, flossing, and say "Healthy gums don't bleed!" (my favorite phrase).

So today I actually had three patients in a row that spoke English (as a first language) and this was when I had my funny thought. Sometimes I'm glad that I can't have casual conversation with my patients! The reason being that I jabbered on so much today that I actually started running late! I'm always on time with my patients (usually I even run ahead), so I was so surprised at my lateness.

Now the question is, would I be like this if all my patients spoke English? Or did I just prattle on today because I never get to talk casually to my patients? By my third patient I had to tell myself to shut up in my head so I could catch back up. I guess if I ever move to a practice where the patients speak English I'll have to watch myself.

Oh Come On!

The past few days have been beautiful. Sunny and mid 60's. Heaven! Flowers are blooming and birds are singing. It's the type of weather that you can't help but be happy in. It's not too hot, it's not too cold. I spent Friday taking pictures, playing with Daniela and Bailey, shopping in an outdoor mall, and also wishing I had a pair of prescription sun glasses.

Then I woke up today to this:


Normally I would love a Saturday morning like this. Listening to classical music, eating a piece of banana bread at the table watching the snow gently fall in the back yard. . . but not today. I am so sick of winter!!! When they said it was going to snow this weekend I figured we'd only get a little and it wouldn't stick. It seems to be sticking. I'll be so sad if this kills my tulips that I planted. Stupid snow.

Bailey "Bacon" Brzozowski

She is the cutest little thing!

You Capture - Reaching

I'm going to be honest with you here, I didn't have much time this week to take any fun photos. It's been kind of rough at work (I also worked Saturday and had a seminar all day Sunday, yuck). I did snap these tonight. I like this photo because you can see her cute little tongue licking her lips as she prepares to reach for her treat. Jared does this routine every night with her. Usually he just lines 6-7 treats up on the window sill and she goes to town. I've never seen her so frustrated with treat time as I tried to get a non blurry shot of her grabbing the treat (I'd have Jared snatch it away so we could get several takes per treat). Needless to say she got way more then her usual 6-7 treats tonight. Action shots of pets are hard take.

New Addition

We had a new addition to our extended family today. Daniela and Greg adopted a new female puppy! She's a Shepard mix with the most wonderful personality; very sweet and quiet. They haven't decided on a name yet, so if you have a suggestion leave a comment.

You Capture - Quiet

This week's You Capture theme was Quiet.

Molly will always be my silent best friend. That's one of the best things about pets, they are great quiet listeners.

Spring!!

Even though it rained on and off today, it was a beautiful day. I think the temperature actually reached 60. I didn't get to really enjoy the nice weather much since my office has no windows except for the waiting room. It's like working in a cave. In the summer I eat my lunch and read in my car for the one day a week I actually get a lunch break. I drove home with my car windows cracked open. It. . . was . . wonderful.

All I could think about on my drive home was how warm and fabulous the weather was. I think this is really the first warm-ish day we've had since. . . . November? As I walked to the mail box I had a hopeful moment, "This weather is so nice! I wonder if anything is growing yet?" and I took a peak on the ground where I planted a bunch of tulips last fall. I was shocked to discover this:

Amongst the sticks, rocks, and other crud/washout that has collected around our mail box at the end of the drive were a bunch of shoots coming out of the earth. I can't believe something I planted actually grew? Maybe I do have a little bit of my Mom's green thumb in me. I'm sure the fact that she supervised me planting the tulips had nothing to do with the fact they grew. . . hehe.

Finally spring is here (at least I hope it is for my poor tulips sake), I didn't think this winter would ever end.

p.s. I think this is the first picture I've taken not on "automatic" setting on the camera. It looks so much better! I think I may read the manual to see exactly what our camera can do. Now I just need some photo editing software for the Mac and I'll be off on my new hobby. This weeks "You Capture" theme was hopeful. . .I think this photo works for that too.

Happy Birthday Jared!

Today my loving husband is 29 years old! What would I do with out you? You are the most generous, loving, funny, happy person I know and you've made me a better person by knowing you. Happy Birthday!! Annnnnd mannnnnnny mooooooooore!

New Hobby?

I think I want to take up photography as a hobby. I've recently started reading some new blogs (friends of friends) who take a lot of beautiful photos. They do this blogger activity called "You Capture" where every week they have a theme assignment on what to photograph; like shapes, winter, or kisses. I might start to try and participate in that, although I think right now I'm lacking in two departments. One, although we have a nice digital camera, I don't think it's up to par with what these people are using. They seem to use cameras that don't fit nicely into a small clutch purse. Two, I have no photo editing software. This was a little epiphany I had just the other day. I kept asking myself "why does a photo of ______ " (insert something mundane in the blank) look so brilliant?? And I think photo editing is the answer. Now that we have a Mac number two will be pretty easy once I save some money for software.

So anyway, I don't really know anything about photography. . .but I think I want to learn. I love looking back at old photos and movies. I think it's one of the reasons why I've kept the blog up so much (even though so few people seem to read it). It's so much fun to look back at entries and photos.

I'm also hoping that sometime in the not too distant future we will purchase a digital video camera as well. Our camera does take short videos, but when we watch them on our big t.v. they look horrible. I guess I can add HD camcorder to my new toy wish list. Hobbies sure are expensive!

Blast from IU Past

It's hard for me to believe that it's been 6 years since we graduated from IU. Some of our friends we haven't seen since college. This weekend we were lucky enough to reunite with several of our old college buddies. Thursday night Jared's old suite mate Aaron was playing in a traveling orchestra in Aurora which is only about 45 minutes from where we live. Aaron was able to get us free tickets to the concert. So not only did we get to enjoy a great show, but we got kidnap our friend from his hotel and talked him into staying at our place for the night.

Friday my friend Staci (who lived on my floor in the dorm) was in Chicago for a conference and was able to take the train out and stay with us Friday night through Saturday afternoon. Then another mutual friend Jenny (also lived on my dorm floor), her husband and new baby drove down from Round Lake Beach (about an hour and 20 min north of us) for a lunch date Saturday.

Just like old times! . . . .with a new cute addition. Where did our 20's go??? Ever since I finished school time just goes by way too fast.

Finally for Jared's 29th b-day we had a couple of friends over for a low key night of food and games Saturday night. I think it was good times had by all. Unfortunately my camera battery died so I didn't get many pictures.

I had such a great time visiting this weekend but it was also bittersweet. I wish all our IU friends lived closer so we could see them more often. Thank goodness for the internet though, it makes keeping in touch so much easier!

Busy Bee

I honestly can't remember the last time I was so busy. Maybe when I was studying for the board exams?

Last weekend (if you can even call it a weekend) was a whirlwind of the dental convention down town and a visit from Jared's dad. I spent all day Friday 6am-9:30pm in class and out to dinner with some friends, Saturday I was up again at 6 and down town again for my class and then I walked the convention floor until 5pm. I really had no intention of picking up all the free samples they hand out, but somehow by the end of it I looked like pack mule. (the 34 fl/oz fluoride bottle didn't help the weight of my bag) The one upside was I won a new electric tooth brush ($150 retail value!) from Oral B. I never win anything, but somehow I always do at these conventions. The first year I went I won a 50 dollar gift card to Star Bucks. Any other time I never win. . .but when teeth are a factor, apparently I'm lady luck.

Saturday night I crashed on the couch with Jared and his dad, and I spent all day Sunday catching up on sleep. Actually I woke up at 8am on Sunday since I had been getting up so early the past few days, but I took a 2 hour nap mid day. Oh how I love sleep. The next two weekends are looking as busy as this past one. . .I'm excited and also already exhausted at the thought of it all. hehe.

Etsy

Do you know what Etsy is? Apparently it's a site for crafty people to sell their wares. I hadn't even heard of it until a friend of mine started a shop. Love it! Especially since I'm looking for fun decorating stuff for the house. Once I find some bedding I think the guest bedroom might be next on my list to tackle. I'd really like to do our bedroom but I feel that would be a "moo point" (it's like a cow's opinion, it doesn't matter. . it's moo) since we can't afford to buy the bedroom set I want for a while. Meanwhile I have a beautiful bedroom set in the other room that's just screaming to be finished. Why not move the nice set from the guest room to our bedroom you ask? Well, it's a single night stand, head board, and single long dresser donated to us by my generous parents from my old bedroom. Beautiful, but not big enough for our master bedroom. (We need two night stands and two dressers.)

I think you should all check out Etsy, and why not start out by looking at Julie's shop.

p.s. This is the first time I created a link in my blog. . .I hope it works. If it does. . go me!

I see in Julie Vision!