A new favorite

With everything that's been going on around here,  I stopped for a little while and looked through my pictures on my memory card. Low and behold I found this gem.

10 days later...

bad blogger I am...I know. But so much has happened in the past weeks I don't even know where to start. Some things I'm definitely not up for sharing right now as I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. But here's your super fast fly by of the past month--with pictures of course.

A month ago I did my first wedding. In fact it was so long ago I don't even remember if I posted anything about it. I finally finished editing their pictures in between everything else in my life. Here's a teeny tiny peek!

So what took so long to edit these pictures? Well first of all I gave one of my future sister in laws a shower and you can read and see all about that HERE. But then 2 days later, another brother came home with his fiancee. Soo that meant I had 2 future sister in laws to hang out with. This was the first time I was meeting her, and honestly I was a little worried. You know, would we get along? would she be easy to talk to? Let me tell you I LOVE this girl. In fact, I'm quite sad that the next time I might see her won't be until the wedding...in September. Then after that Christmas.

While they were in town for a week, there was lots of fun to be had. Lots of laughter and talking. The main reason they were home was for a cousin's wedding. I got to have LOTS of baby holding time. :)

Hopefully this is what our future holds...

That would make me soo happy.

Anyway, that was part of Saturday. Our house quickly filled to 8 people, plus 2 extra guests (but we didn't have enough rooms, so they had to sleep elsewhere). Sunday morning was spent at church, followed by a big family & friends lunch compliments of Wawa.

After lunch the hubs and I went on a day trip to Philly with my brother in law & future sister in law #2 (Steve & Holly). Our first stop was in Valley Forge Park where the boys charged a hill with their bayonets (I think). 

Then we headed into Old City, Philly to view the sights. We had a slight detour because of a closed road, so we didn't have time to get everywhere Steve was planning, but it was still well worth the trip! We had dinner with my nieces, their parents, and my in-laws. It was an awesomely fun day.

On Steve and Holly's last night in PA (they were here for a very short week), we took the California girls mini-golfing.

I might add that it was much more fun than that picture might show ;)

So we said goodbye to Steve and Holly, and tomorrow we say goodbye to Eryn. Then the house will be back to its quiet self and life will really return to normal. 

At least for a little while ;) ... I'll save that announcement for tomorrow.

...and breathe

This past week was by far one of the craziest and most stressful weeks I've had all year. (It beats moving week by far!) Anyway, to sum it up I have graduate class work. It's an online program through Wilkes University called Instructional Media. It's not too hard, but still time consuming. On Friday night, our Rita's employees wanted a Hawaiian night. After making lots of tropical flavored ice, decorating the place inside & out, the night went really well. 

I was supposed to be done at 3:30, but after decorating I didn't get to leave until 5:00. From there I had to do a scope & test session for my.first.wedding.

I had a CRAZY drive there when about 50 feet in front of me someone backed into a telephone pole, split it in half and the top portion went FLYING and SPINNING into the air. All the cars on the road stopped and watched as this huge wooden pole spun itself on the wires and all poles and wires around us shook. Then I finally got to the turn I needed, but of course I missed it.  After turning around and coming back to it, I was waiting to turn when I hear sirens coming from behind me. With nowhere to go I had to pass the turn a 2nd time. Then I pulled off the road into someones driveway and attempted a 3 pt. turn while almost backing into a fire hydrant---because it was green. Thankfully there was a man across the street who yelled at me to stop. Needless to say, I eventually made it to the church that night, got some test pictures and checked out the location and eventually made it home after some incorrect directions from my parents.

Saturday was spent making ice with Greg in the morning, then getting ready & leaving for the wedding. I was so nervous. I knew I could do it, I was just very afraid to be "the one" where the pictures really.count. It wasn't just me taking pictures for me. They were a simple, no-frills bride and groom. But overall, I fell into a groove and the night went smoothly. I even helped cut/serve the wedding cake since I had experience in that department from my catering days. 

I came home exhausted, but we played some Mario Kart with Greg's brother. Today I got worried about all my pictures being blurry, so I checked them, and they aren't all blurry. Thank goodness! But the rest of the day is going to be spent catching up on grad class work, maybe editing pictures and waiting for my future sister in law to arrive for her 3 week visit. Then tomorrow begins bridal shower week. yay!! I'm so excited.

Wedding Numero Uno

We went to our first wedding of the season. This one was for my cousin and perfect timing for me to get in some practice before I do my first paid wedding (next weekend!). So because it's easier and less time consuming to post pictures...here ya go!

Congratulations to the new Mr. & Mrs!

I definitely have some anxiety about the wedding this weekend. I know I am capable, but I also know there are times when pictures just come out funky. I'm hoping I don't  have any of those!

Lightroom vs. Katy

I was so excited about using Adobe Lightroom...until I lost my pictures. Turns out that even though I couldn't find them on my computer anymore, they were still on my camera. Here are my favorite pictures from our trip to Asbury Park, NJ. I'm sure you'll notice how they have very little to do with running. HA!

I'd say, I won this time.

Women's Retreat Weekend

This weekend was awesome. I mean what could really be wrong with 30-40 women praising and learning about their Lord and Savior all while enjoying the time together. I came home from Rita's on Friday afternoon and I had to pack, make sure I got a laptop, projector, and my presentation onto a jump drive. All went reasonably well. Granted I was a little rushed and ended up packing 7 different shirts for 3 days. But at least I was prepared. I was so ready to have nothing to do with Rita's or children's ministry for 2 days. Sometimes you just need a mental break and soul/faith rejuvenation. We were on the road by our goal of 5:30, picked up dinner to go, and arrived at the retreat center by 6:30 [I think].

Friday night we had our first talk session and then stayed up really late talking and laughing and it was fabulous. Saturday we got breakfast cooked for us by a crazy-talented man, had a double talk session, lunch, and then had free time/workshop time. That's where I came into play. I had my photography lesson at 4pm.

I think I should back up a bit first. Immediately after lunch, 12:30ish, I decided to boot up my old*er* laptop and start up my powerpoint to make sure it was ready to go. So thankful that I did this because I realized that even though I checked the powerpoint presentation on my the hubby's computer, MY laptop didn't have a new enough version of powerpoint, therefore it would not open! I could feel the tears beginning to form. Not because I couldn't do my presentation then, but simply because I had put so much time and effort into it and I knew it would be a benefit for all the women to SEE what I was talking about. Not just hear it. So time to troubleshoot. Nothing that I could do on my laptop would fix the situation. Called the hubby to see if he could help (turns out he was still at a track meet)...means no help there. There was only one other person to call. My brother-in-law. He had to turn on my home computer, find my file, open it up, re-save it, and THEN get into my e-mail so he could send it to me.  While waiting patiently, I prayed that it would work because of how badly I wanted to show everyone, but I eventually found myself praying that whatever happens, that I will be okay giving my presentation regardless. Praise God, about 15-20 minutes later, I had an e-mail waiting for me. Since it was opened on a computer with different fonts, I had some editing to do, but it was there.

Our 1:00 session was all about making a prayer journal, and it is seriously an awesome idea. I have mine barely started, but as I finish some more, I will definitely post pictures so that you can see what it is and maybe you'll make one for yourself. I was thankful that I had attended this session to keep my mind off of the nerves that were beginning to form. If I had just had free time, I probably would have been a complete mess!

4:00pm came quickly or so it seemed. Probably because I wasn't feeling particularly creative due to being pre-occupied. I hooked up my computer, turned on the projector and off I went. The lesson went perfectly. When I was writing the lesson, I was so worried about what to say and that I would forget. So I typed up notes, printed them out....and looked at them twice (only because I felt like I should). I handed out my brochures at the beginning so the women could take notes on them or simply keep for future reference. We had a little Q&A, helped find things on cameras, and then took a short little walk to try to put it into practice. While I was talking it was so so ssooo cool to see all the women break out their cameras and look for the exact thing that I was talking about. My ultimate goal was to empower and encourage the women to explore their camera. They can't hurt it...and even if they think they did, it can be reset. 

Saturday night was another talk and a real life application testimony by a lady. Both of which I missed because of a complete mis-communication and explosion of the mis-communication between the hubs and I. Basically, I had to get the projector back to him so that it could be used in the children's ministry Sunday morning. We both drove to a Wa-Wa to meet...however they were different ones. Frustration and emotions exploded and I ended up having to come all the way home to drop it off. Then in tears and angry I drove back to the retreat center. A trip that was supposed to last maybe 45 minutes took basically 2.5 hours. But then I got to stay up late again and be relieved of my emotional roller-coaster by lots of women who love me and care for me.

Sunday morning--I was exhausted. You know the kind of exhaustion that overwhelms your entire body because of how emotionally drained you were at some point on the previous day. Yeppers. That was me. We sang, we worshiped, we prayed, we learned one more time (5 talks) in all and finished up the weekend with lunch and fellowship. I came home not planning on napping, but I could.not.help.myself. I slept for 2 hours and still have a headache. This thing between us has not yet been settled, but that's how things go here. We'll see what happens. For now I have a headache and need to unpack my 3 bags...yes, 3 bags for 2 days. Maybe tomorrow I'll share more about the talks with you and more about my photography lesson! Sadly I have zero pictures from this weekend.again.just like last year. oh well!

Today I need to...

• pick up projector & screen
• copy kid pages for Sunday
• head to work
• count drawers
• change signs
• pump bucket and bucket and buckets of ice every 30 minutes
• not make a mess of the place like I did yesterday while serving customers
• make the next 2 or 3 weeks of a schedule only to have the girls all switch their days around making my job semi-pointless
• finish writing lessons for Sunday
• finish my photography presentation for the Women's Retreat
• Make sure I know what I'm saying on Saturday
• Pack for the weekend

all so that on Friday I can

• head to work
• count drawers
• change signs
• pump bucket and bucket and buckets of ice every 30 minutes
• not make a mess of the place like I seem to do when I'm busy
• Leave my hubby for the weekend :( for the women's retreat :)
• Hopefully successful give a presentation on photography. (praying I won't be nervous-I'm sensing nerves starting already...yikes)