Michael Franzese...

Have you ever heard the name? You should first watching this video before I go any further:



Tonight Michael Franzese and his wife Cammy were speaking at my church! It was so amazing to me, how someone SO full of power and wealth and CRIME could come to God and is now sharing his AMAZING testimony everywhere. Just amazing. It was an incredible night and I loved every minute of it. I love stories like these, they remind me that God is still very much in the "miracle" business. It's true.

This guy was friends with the Gotti's (Gambino family)...he was under the Columbo family. His dad was the under boss of the Columbo family. This is huge! Then he met his wife, Cammy, a young Christian lady and God started a work in his heart. Just an amazing story.

We got to hear him and his wife speak and ask questions and we stood an HOUR in line at church because we bought his book and had him sign it. OF COURSE, I also got a picture. ;) I just HAD to. Tim actually asked him for me because I didn't see anyone else with a camera so I thought it wasn't allowed or something, but he let me! He is the nicest guy!! Who knew he, at one point in time, he made $6-8 MILLION A WEEK and was this huge mob dude! He even talked to (a very sleepy) Haylee. :)

Here are some pics of our night...
They handed out red carnations to all of the women/girls as we walked in!
I liked mine, if you look closely, the leaves formed into a heart. :) Only the artist in me would see that...ha ha!


Here's our church set up...and then a pic of Cammy, Michael and our pastor...Ken Baugh



And a pretty good picture of Michael Franzese & Tim!

It was VERY awesome and POWERFUL and I am so sorry to all of my friends and family who couldn't go or opted not to because YOU missed a very exciting experience. I know I'll remember this day forever and the story of Michael Franzese and his family. God is awesome.

A few pictures

a couple of days ago i was just havin' fun with my family and my camera.
that's my life! so i thought i'd share my life with you. :)

Tim and Miley:


Haylee and Miley:


The girls:


Sweet Haylee:


Miley is getting so big! She is 5 months old now :)


life has been busy lately - nothing much different than the norm!
work is picking up speed and hectic right now...attitudes are flyin', but you know, it's all good! we will get through it and we'll all be happy in the end {when it's over! ha ha ha!}.

i wore my pumps for the SECOND time today and i have to say....Ooooooooh and Owwwwww. i'm just sayin', ouch. the balls of my footsies are SO VERY sore. i bought some cushy things for them but they didn't seem to help at all. :( i have gotten SO many nice compliments and i look so tall (like a giraffe! LOL) in them, so i will keep on wearing them but ow. i guess it gets better the more you wear them in?? either that or it's true what my mom used to say...sometimes it hurts to be beautiful! ;)

tomorrow is FRIDAY!!!!

we have our weekend pretty much planned out already. tomorrow is work and then when we get off it's straight home to change clothes and go to church to see Michael Franzese! he's the guy that used to be a head mob guy and now he's a Christian and i think he preaches, well he goes around telling his story. i think it'll be great.

saturday morning i have to go feed my friend's cat...oh yea i'm cat/apartment sitting while my friend is in Chicago this week...she is getting married in Chicago! she was an old friend from my last job. me and my boss (also her friend) are going to re-arrange/organize her apartment while she's on her honeymoon! it should be fun. anyway...so i'm feeding her cat while she's gone. then i want to go to the beach to take some photographs of haylee...i hope it works out like i have it all in my mind...we will see! hopefully so because it is something i want to use for my next school project AND something i want to keep as a keep sake...we'll see. ;)

sunday we are going to visit tim's grandpa. we haven't visited in an embarrassing long time!
so we're really excited about that! :)

i hope everyone has a great weekend!

Here's how it went...

The pumps were FINE! Actually, I am glad I forked out a little more money (I usually go Target brand...or Payless...and yea...) for the NICE pumps. Although I stood quite tall all day - I did get many look overs, which I thought was funny. I guess I'm considered "short" in my office because, well, I'm a short 5'5" but there are some really tall people in my office! I didn't get a blister or anything. Amazing! I do have soreness on the top of my foot and the ball of my foot, but I think that has more to do with the way my feet were positioned all day and that is something I will just have to get used to. ;)

So, all in all, I think I did a great job in my new shoes {if you've just joined us and have NO clue what on earth I'm blabbering about, read the post below}.

I did have a bit of a rough spot yesterday at work. Let's draw a picture...I work in an accounting firm. This is "busy season". Not only tax, but audit as well. I am the audit partner's assistant. I do many other things as well and I made a few minor mistakes (heck I'm human!) and once I mess up, I get so overwhelmed with not messing up that I DO mess up! :P So anyway, wasn't a great one for me yesterday. :( I got home though and played with Miley, snuggled Haylee, played Guitar Hero, started dinner that Tim finished (and he did the dishes!!) and he poured me a rather large glass of chardonnay. Ooooh boy. LOL. I'll stop my story there! But the night ended nicely and I think I fell asleep REALLY early.

Today is another day and it should be better!

That is all I have for now, I took some candid shots of Miley last night that I will post later. She is getting SO big. She's such a playful little thing too. :) I hope you have a happy wednesday!

Oh wait...one more thing! I made a "10", which is an A+ on my 4th project at school!!!!!!!! yay!

Oooooh pumps!

Wow...I did it. I have a little secret, I'm about to share with you now. This is almost embarrassing, but I guess if you knew me...you'd totally understand. ;) I have worn high heels only ONCE in my entire life. No, seriously. You might be thinking...oh yes, at your wedding, right? Nope. It was my Sr. Prom and you know, the perfect dress, the perfect hair, perfect accessories, perfect shoes, right? Nope. I went to Payless (maybe that's where I went wrong) and bought those shoes you can dye any color on the face of the planet and I had them dyed aquamarine to match my fancy prom dress. :) I wore those $30 Payless shoes for oh - maybe 30 minutes. So, that's my little secret. I have only adorned high heels for 30 mins of my 28 years of life. ;)

UNTIL TODAY! Well, I've been wearing flats...oh yes, even on my precious wedding day I REFUSED to walk down that aisle uncomfortably...I had bright WHITE ballet flats. They were mighty CUTE and cozy I might add. But anyway, I think the flatness of the flat shoes I wear (I think the closest thing I've come to wearing high heels are those chunky heeled shoes, but they're thick so I'm not wobbly or insecure feeling) - the flatness is causing my knees to hurt a little. Either that or I'm getting old...and I don't think that's it! ;P So I was convinced to purchasing a set of pumps. Oh yeah and I didn't work myself into them, I went straight to the 3 inchers! Go me!

I was thinking "Go me!" until this morning as Haylee was following me down our flight of indoor stairs and I slipped on a step, due to my heels, and almost went CRASHING down the next 4 steps! Thankfully I was holding onto the railing. ;) They my "precious" daughter says "Mommy! You have to be careful. You told ME that I couldn't walk up or down these stairs with MY high heels on!". How sweet and encouraging. Hee hee! She cracked me up! She is SO right, I should listen to my 5 yr old....ha ha!

Anyway...here they are, my new set of pumps...and I am wearing them today! So hopefully no bumps or bruises will occur between now and 5pm. ;)

And just for kicks n' giggles I will copy/paste the description of these mamma jammas from the Kohl's website (yes, I got them at Kohl's, they're one of their top of the line shoes...LOL):

We're here to pump you up! Give yourself a little boost wearing these heels. Basic beauties that have a high stature without being pretentious, they're the perfect wardrobe accessory.
*Melissa side note: They're pumpin' me UP alright! I'm the tallest girl in my office today! Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating JUST a little. ;)

High heel has a leg-lengthening effect while adding a bit of oomph.

*Melissa side note: "oomph" ain't the word for it baby...someone DID ask me if I've lost weight though...maybe that's what they mean??

Rounded toe and padded footbed are essential to a comfortable fit.

*Melissa side note: this *might* be a bit over dramatization...I mean, come on...a COMFORTABLE fit? Let's not kid ourselves here...

Flirty cutout design on the upper provides feminine flair.

*Melissa side note: ok...I do agree here!

Smooth leather upper looks sleek and sophisticated.

Details:
3 3/4-in. heel - whoa mama!
Leather upper

All in all I am pleased, and it's 8:45am and I'm still wearing them (as opposed to walking around barefooted?!). So...wish me luck! ;)

Something to say

i feel as if i have a lot to say right now because i haven't really been keeping up and when i think of something neat or something i have heard or read i think to myself "hey, i should put that on my blog" and when the time finally comes for me to sit and "write" i totally blank. :)

so i guess i'll just start with what we did this weekend. let's see...i already blogged about our friday night {see Haylee's blog}. it was a lot of great fun!! saturday we slept in {sleeping in for us is around, oh, 8am!}, got coffee and danishes from Starbucks, ran around and did some shopping. we came home and i worked hours on the pool bathroom! then on saturday night Tim, Haylee and i went to church. ah. it was just great. our pastor was either on vacation or a short break, but we had the youth pastor and he is just so funny and energetic to me. he had SUCH an awesome message, it really touched my heart and put things into perspective for me. i am hoping to blog about some of the things he talked about {hopefully tomorrow or tuesday at the latest}. the worship was marvelous too, one of the ladies led it and i just admire her dearly, to some she may seem rough around the edges but to me she is awesome and i do look up to her. she's one of those, you can tell she's had a hard life growing up...but she's triumphed over a lot of things thrown at her and she's a better person because of it. i will have to find her myspace music page as she has put out a contemp Christian music cd. her husband is a guitarist and if you've heard of a man called Lincoln Brewster, well, they play with him all the time at his church in Northern CA {which one of mine and Tim's old friend goes to! how awesome is that?!}.

anyway...sorry kind of went off on a tangent there. ;) so that was our saturday. today, sunday, we "slept in" again today, got ready and went out to brunch at El Torito, yum! then went shopping AGAIN but just for some things we needed for the house. :) then we drove around, it was pouring rain for the better part of the day. it rained off and on yesterday too. nice weather, but sleepy weather. i finished the pool bathroom today and took some pictures {ok, i took a lot of pictures}.

so, here they are...my "before" and "after" photos of the pool bathroom. we decided to go with a beach/coast/ocean theme since it's the pool bathroom. i think it turned out REALLY well! this is not the style of the rest of our house, so it was really neat to get to do this with this bathroom. {Ann...i hope we did it justice!} please let me know your thoughts! i have to give credit to tim...he installed the light fixture and the mirror. he also spray painted the wicker cabinet and he helped me paint some of the bathroom. :)

before pictures:

after pictures:

it's amazing what a few coats of paint and some pretty decor can do. i mean, this bathroom was in really good shape to begin with, but i think it's looking pretty serene right now. :)) now the weather needs to WARM up so that we can go swimming in the pool and put this bathroom to good use. ;) {ya, that sounded kind of weird i know}

so as far as sickness goes...i'm not going to talk about it too much on the blog because once i do it takes a turn, mostly for the worse. but my throat is hurting tonight, hope it's just my allergies. Haylee hasn't complained all weekend, thank GOD.

well -- i am really excited. this week on friday at our church we're having a guest speaker, Michael Franzese. he was a bigtime mob person {so i don't know the technical term} anyway, he was some head guy in the mob and he changed his life around, or i should say God changed his life around, so now he's a big time leader for GOD. :) his wife, Cammy helped him and she's going to be there too speaking about it. from Goodfella to Godfella is the title, how witty! :)

then the following week Tim, me and my friend from work and her husband are going to see the Linkin Park concert! yay!! they're runner up for my fav band! (well it's between them and Good Charlotte for my fav's) anyway...we're taking a limo there and back, ya! VIP baby! ;) it will be so much fun...we do not do things like this often. i'm super excited, and you don't have to ask if i'll take pictures...at least...you should know by now.

i hope everyone has a super great week!
love
melissa

INFJ

Yesterday I took this personality test, you may have taken it before, but I thought it was VERY accurate. I think it's called the Similar Minds test and it shows you what your personality is based on a few different questions they ask. It's a simple test and it's fun! I recommed you take it...Tim and I both took it and he is the COMPLETE opposite of me! Isn't that funny?? He's everything I'm not and I'm everything he's not, I guess that is why we make such a good combo. ;) Opposites really do attract.

Here's the link: http://similarminds.com/jung.html

Here's my description:

Introverted (I) 61.29% Extroverted (E) 38.71%
Intuitive (N) 51.35% Sensing (S) 48.65%
Feeling (F) 64.29% Thinking (T) 35.71%
Judging (J) 69.7% Perceiving (P) 30.3%

Your type is: INFJ

creative, smart, focus on fantasy more than reality, attracted to sad things, fears doing the wrong thing, observer, avoidant, fears drawing attention to self, anxious, cautious, somewhat easily frightened, easily offended, private, easily hurt, socially uncomfortable, emotionally moody, does not like to be looked at, fearful, perfectionist, can sabotage self, can be wounded at the core, values solitude, guarded, does not like crowds, organized, second guesses self, more likely to support marijuana legalization (now that is interesting...and odd!), focuses on peoples hidden motives, prone to crying, not competitive, prone to feelings of loneliness, not spontaneous, prone to sadness, longs for a stabilizing relationship, fears rejection in relationships, frequently worried, can feel victimized, prone to intimidation, lower energy, strict with self

favored careers:
psychotherapist, artist, art curator, bookstore owner, freelance writer, poet, teacher (art, drama, english), library assistant, professor of english, painter, novelist, book editor, copywriter, philosopher, environmentalist, bookseller, museum curator, opera singer , magazine editor, archivist, music therapist, screenwriter, film director, creative director, librarian, social services worker, art historian, sign language interpreter (Napoleon Dynamite is coming to mind…), photo journalist (yes…that’s more like it!), makeup artist, photo journalist, homemaker

disfavored careers:
airline pilot, race car driver, businessman, information technology consultant, executive, administrator, supervisor, bartender, lab technician, restaurant owner, strategist, ceo, bar owner, marketing specialist, business consultant…these are funny!!!!!

INFJ - "Author". Strong drive and enjoyment to help others. Complex personality. 1.5% of total population.

Oh wow, Thursday?!

time sure does fly when you blink, doesn't it?!! i have really HAD the time to blog, but not the energy or the will. ;) sorry but sometimes you just NEED a break, ya know? i think this change of seasons (and change and changing again...day after day) has really been playing a toll on my sinuses. they get easily infected and it feels like i cannot move my eyeballs or it HURTS. almost how i picture a migraine, but Tim says it's different. he should know, he's had PLENTY of migraines in his day!

at any rate i've still been truckin' along day after day, doing my groove thang. ;) last night i had class - it felt good to go to class, i really do LOVE this class! one bad thing though, i'm SUCH a perfectionist (but only at certain things) -- this being one of them. i swear i use MORE photo paper than ever! and the stuff isn't cheap! the ugly part is, the military won't reimburse me for that money. :( but oh well, life goes on. no one ever said photography was cheap! no wonder we pay so much for our kids' pictures at school! (well, they do rip you off, but a lot of TIME goes into these photos)

here's the print i did last night. i'm sorry for the distorted image you are seeing a PICTURE of a picture and it's a glossy print at that, so you see refelctions and if you look close enough my thumbnail is in the far left corner. ;) but i just wanted to give you an idea. one day maybe i will scan all of my prints to the computer. i'm not sure if that does any damage to them? well i will try another day. :)

let's see...nothing much else is new! just trying to get us all recovered. :) i'm excited for the weekend! we might be going to a Rock Band party -- Rock Band is a game stemmed from Guitar Hero except it not only has lead and bass guitars it has drums and a mic too! so you create a BAND right there in your living room. it's pretty gnarly if you ask me! we all love it, Tim's brother has it and we played it at his Superbowel party. now a guy at Tim's work (they're also our landlords and friends!) has it and we might be going over to his house this weekend. fun times!

have a fabulous THURSDAY!

Monday is it?

it sure doesn't feel like it! I guess because most companies are closed for the holiday today…but we’re here. ;) which is fine! It’s been a fairly fun day I must say. No, that is not sarcasm in my words.

I ended up going to a friend’s house for lunch today – myself and two girlies from work. It was a lot of fun because she just got a new puppy! Her name is Roxy and she’s a boxer. My friend already has a BIG dog (a Rhodesian Ridgeback named Rhody) and the two are SO SO SO cute! The puppy lets you hold her & she just has the *sad* puppy eyes, which are too hard to resist! I had one of my friends take a picture of me holding her.


Tonight I do not have school so I have all intentions of putting a 2nd coat of paint on that pool bathroom & finishing it! It’s supposed to rain, but it’s pretty sunny out, so hopefully it will subside until my paint project is complete. I get to see Haylee too – I will be picking her up after work, she’s at Grammy’s house. I called her this morning and she was SO cute she told me she misses me. ;) Aww! Made my day!

I hope you all have a GREAT week!

so what's up?!

that's probably what you are thinking because i've not blogged in awhile! :) or maybe not? well i've been taking care of my baby girl - Haylee who has been sick the past week or two. Tim also came down with something & I've been feeling icky off and on. but all in all i think we're close to shakin' it!

last night Tim and I decided to go see a movie, we just needed to get out of the house. we took Haylee, but she wasn't feeling good & we kind of anticipated on her falling asleep. if you think about it, we paid $7.50 for her to get into the movie and fall asleep...but we would have to pay a sitter twice that amount AN HOUR to go out on a date! ;) plus she had fun & had some popcorn & before the movie even started (at 7:10pm!) she asked if she could lay in my lap & sleep. :) she slept the whole time & was such a good girl.

today we slept in a bit (didn't go to church since we're all feeling icky) but Tim & I watched Joel Osteen at 8:30am. it was GREAT of course, i love how motivational Joel is. he said a lot of things that reminded me of his book i read. everything is so true. i loved it!! then Tim got coffee & we took showers & decided to start working on the pool bathroom. Tim helped me spray paint a wicker shelf we are putting in there & i thoroughly cleaned the bathroom & scrubbed the walls, caulked a lot of cracks & started painting it. :) i will finish painting it tomorrow night (no school due to President's day!) & hopefully throughout the week i will decorate it & it will be ready for everyone to use. :) yay! it's been a FUN project & we've gotten SO many good deals on decor. i'm so proud of us! it's an ocean/beach theme so we're using the aqua marine color, which I LOVE. and a taupe color for the walls. i got some melamine starfish and a sand dollar at Bed, Bath & Beyond for $2.50/each! (they were $10/each). And a few pictures from Kohl's, $10/each. It's going to look so cute! I'm excited!! a bit tired because of the painting...lol!

we took more showers & now getting ready to go out to dinner & a movie (again!). we saw JUMPER last night and it was GREAT!! i liked it a lot.

tonight we're going to Inka Mama's (a Peruvian place, we've never been but hear great things) and then going to see Definitely, maybe. a chick flick! yay!! :) Haylee will be spending the night at Tim's dad & mom's since tomorrow Susie will be watching her (no school, but yes we have to work). she's beyond excited!

ok better get off of here. :) i have new batteries in my digital camera so i hope to be taking more with that. funny now that i'm taking a film class it seems i've taken less pics with my digital! :P

have a great week!
love
melissa

♥ Happy V-Day ♥

Happy Valentines' Day! i just wanted to say thank you for all of the sweet text messages & some emails i received today. :) i have to say my friend Christin is one of the sweetest...she said (and i quote) "This world is better and brighter because ur in it!". i thought that was pretty amazingly *SWEET*...thanks so much Christin. i miss you!

today has been a day of SURPRISES that is for sure! after a crappy day yesterday (minus the good night) i was happy. i walk into my office to a single rose laying across my keyboard with a card! it was from my boss, Debra. she has got to be one of the sweetest bosses i've ever had. maybe THE sweetest. ;) i'm very blessed!

tim also gave me a card this morning! i thought that was pretty sweet too. then someone at work passed out Simpsons' valentines to all of the admin department, which is great because sometimes i think we go un noticed. really. and one of our partners brought us See's candies! then my boss took me out to lunch (it was really a meeting though, lol, but still!). i came back & MUCH to my surprise {because we SAID we weren't getting each other anything...but i was so happy he didn't listen to me!!} - tim sent me those WONDERFUL chocolate covered strawberries & a v-day balloon. ;) yipeee! i'm loved!

tonight we are either going to order in OR just make salmon at home and watch a movie we bought (forgot the name). this weekend we're going to see TWO movies together..."Jumper" and "Definitely, maybe". i'm very excited to get to spend some much needed time with my hubby & little girl.

what a great valentines' day!

back from school & good news!

i'm back from class and just hopped on here to say a few good and positive words. :)

first of all - i got my grades back from my first three projects! i received a 9.5, 10 & 10 (so an A and two A+'s!). i am SO happy about that! he told me to keep up the good work! :)) yay!

i started printing my 4th project tonight & i am VERY happy with what i'm seeing, LOL. we had to do 2 different landscape prints. i did this one & then one of an action photo - water coming out of my waterfall in the pool. :) i haven't printed the waterfall, that will be next week on Wed (no class on Mon!). what do you think of this pic? it looks a little sepia in this photo to me, but it looks b/w in real life?! weird! maybe it's because i didn't turn on my flash (this is a picture of my picture so it may look a little distorted from the truth). i just wanted you to see an idea of what i am doing. it is SO much fun. i'm discovering too that i DO like pictures of nature! ha ha!! i really do!

anyway - that thing i asked prayer about i think is resolved now. it just seemed like i had a bad day. work was fine, everything was fine just i felt a little glum. ever felt that way? oh well...i need to finish off a few things before i head off to bed!

thanks for thinking of me :)
love
melissa

i'm here

I’m sorry I haven’t said anything new in a few days! Life has been busy and a little chaotic lately. There are a few out of the ordinary CRAZY things going on & I would just like to request prayer for them. It’s nothing life threatening but still requires attention. I’d rather not go into great detail on here, sorry. The important thing is you pray for this situation and I would greatly appreciate it! Thank you!

I am excited about class tonight. I am printing my 4th project. It’s two 8x10’s and I developed the film on Monday and it looks good so far. I just hope it PRINTS well. I’m super excited about the 5th project which is a portrait. I have a great idea of a portrait I want to take of Haylee, weather permitting (and child permitting, LOL). I’ll keep it hush until it’s grand debut. ;)

Thanks for those sending emails & thanks for thinking of me!
I don’t post when I’m feeling down in the dumps because I love saying inspiring things…but I guess it’s good to know that I DO “have my days”. Well, I am only human.

i realized something today

not that i didn't know this before but this morning at church, during the singing, it dawned on me. i realized something today. something about MYSELF. i am the type of person that YEARNS for others' approval. i also get upset when someone doesn't pay enough attention to me. i am NOT a "needy" person by any means {i know girls like that} but i do seek others' opinions & intimacy with other people. i yearn for PEACE. i do not like being in argument or disapproval of ANYONE person. it honestly changes my attitude.

that being said...i feel like i need to tweek myself in that area. i think i lean TOO much on certain people in my life. people who don't even WANT me to lean on them. people who could care LESS if i looked their way {but my character tends to want their approval, therefore i lean. does that make sense?}. i think i've always known this about myself, but i also think GOD just brought it to my attention today because my mind is weighing heavy on certain areas of my life. my relationships.

i think i need to quit trying SO HARD to earn others' approval. there is only ONE person's approval i need and that is our Heavenly Father, Jesus' approval. HE is the only one that matters. i could really spend my life trying to please the world, but in the end it wouldn't make ME happy or be pleasing to the LORD either because quite honestly it's impossible. :)

this morning it took ALL I HAD to fight back the TEARS as i realized this. i was singing "Majesty" & the words just flew from my mouth & i could feel the large lump swelling in my throat. the ONLY one approval i need is from MY MAJESTY. His grace has found me JUST AS I AM...empty handed but a live in HIS HANDS. no one else's hands...HIS hands.

i really love when i realize these things about myself. i just feel the Holy Spirit guiding me and helping me through each and every relationship i have. some of them are NOT healthy and some of them need mending. thankfully i do not have to try to mend or fix them all by myself {if at all}. my MAJESTY is there for me. i lifted my hands to HIM and sang with my soul this morning. i should've let the tears flow, but kept them inside. God knows my heart. :)

ok now that - that is off my chest, i feel loads better! today has been a REALLY productive day {my favorite kind!}. went to church, went shopping, bought Grammie her birthday gifts from us (Haylee picked out Godiva chocolates & I picked out some stuff from Crate & Barrel), more shopping, went home to shoot a roll of film {we shall see tomorrow how it comes out!} and i started on my SPRING project!

my Spring project is going to be SO MUCH fun because I LOVE to decorate! i am remodeling the Pool Bathroom. it is a small bathroom attached to the outside of our house, in the backyard, next to the pool! i am going full on BEACH themed (soft pastel, turquoise, aquatic style). i am very excited. i took before pictures...my goal is to have it done by May - before Memorial Day when everyone will come over for a BIG family BBQ!! :) wish me luck! LOL! i already have rugs, candles {from Pier 1, my fav store!!}, a picture frame & a hand towel picked out. there is SO much more to buy, but little at a time. we're also going to repaint it a taupe color (the color of SAND).

here are the pictures of the BEFORE shots...i will be sure to post the AFTER ones whenever i complete my project. :)







please note that this bathroom has NOT been used by us since we moved in. the renters who rented this house prior to us took very poor care of the entire house - but our SWEET landlord (a friend of ours' parents) made it PRETTY for us to move in! :) we are fixing up this bathroom & Tim's Spring project is the BBQ pitt. i will take pictures of that another time. ;) oh and yes, there is glass on the floor. a picture fell and shattered. i was being very risky by walking on it to take these pics.

i did get the bathroom spic & span today also! i am so excited about it!! thanks for looking. :)

have a great week!!
love
mel

this weekend

should be a relaxing, great one! :) last night i actually COOKED dinner. don't get me wrong, i always make SOMETHING, but it usually comes out of a box. :( i found that i actually DO like to cook, it's just that i don't always have the time. but since it was a friday night and we didn't have any plans, i decided to make some Chinese food! yum!!

during lunch yesterday i went with two friends to a market called Fresh & Easy. it's kind of like a Trader Joe's or a Henry's if you know what those are. if not, it's more of a "fresh", "healthy" food store. everything is made fresh at this store & they put it in nice little packages for you. it was the first time i've been to one, they are new out here. anyway, i picked up some Spring Veggie Rolls & thought it would be nice to make some Chicken Chow Mein with fresh veggies {which i knew we had all the ingredients for that at home}.

here i am...yes, i made {reluctant} Tim take that pic of me! hey! i needed proof! j/k!

LOL! i look so professional! sorry for my messy kitchen...i actually cleaned it up today. :) Fridays aren't my cleanin' day. ;) it's spotless now! until a few more mins when some family comes over for dinner that is. ha ha ha!

tonight we are having Tim's oldest brother - Jeff, Brandie & their 4 kids and his other older brother - Mark, Noah & Obi (the doggy) - Kathy is in Mexico. should be fun we are going to grill burgers and hot dogs & go swimming. :) it's 80 degrees here today, can you believe it??! i know!

tomorrow we are going to church & then going home to relax. i have laundry & i need to work on my project for school. yay!

have a GREAT weekend everyone!!
Love
mel

an URGENT request

this is important. i have been following this little girl's blog for awhile now & her & her family have just touched my heart. she is a transplant baby (well, she's 2 yrs old) and she was very ill, then got better & got to go home & just a few days ago she got sick & now she is back in Omaha (while her family lives in TX) and she's very very ill.

if you get a moment, just look at her blog. her name is Ashley Adams and she's in urgent need of your prayers right now.

http://ashleyadamsjournal.blogspot.com/

God bless you,
mel

so what's new?

just thought i'd get on to drop a few lines on here. :) what's new? how's everyone?

i had class last night - i'd like to say it was almost a WASTE of TIME. maybe 20 mins of it was useful. ;) since no one had started on the 4th project (he just gave to us on Monday) - he went over the SAME EXACT material he went over on Mon! the same slides and everything. so i say 20 mins of it was useful because there was a portion i was a bit confused about (depth of field and how that plays in with the aperature...), but now i believe i have it! i always have the book to fall back on too. no lab because i didn't have anything to develop. i was thinking of doing another tree print, but hello...i forgot i turned it in with projects 1, 2 & 3! ;) oh well!

i was glad i got off early...at 8pm! so i got to sit & watch tv & talk to Tim more than i usually do on a school night. i also got to read Haylee a book & kiss her goodnight. i sometimes feel a little guilty because i feel like our time together is precious and with me back in school, that precious time is less and less. :( it makes me so sad. but we really do try to make the most of it. i guess that's life!

well i'm at work, so better not write a novel here (too late?!) -- i just wanted to end with a request. please pray for my sister Liz. i don't know if i'm supposed to say it Liz, but they're trying to get a new car because of the problems she was having with her old one. something happened this morning & the dealer sold the car they wanted to another person. i know that must've not been the perfect car for her but she's upset (understandable!). just pray for her and my brother in law Al. i know they're sad & upset but i also know that God will put the perfect car in their lives. :)

**Added later - please also keep in your prayers my sis-in-law Kathy as she is traveling to Mexico with her hospital group to perform surgeries on the less fortunate! She's awesome! Can't wait to see your pics Kat!**

happy Thursday!!
love
mel♥

going for a new look...

i REALLY like my new look too! it will take me some time to get my pictures & links, lists, etc back up so please bare with me! :) what do you think of the new "skin"? i know it's a little grey...but i figure i'm taking bw photography and i love that Bible verse, so hey why not?!!

ok...so as of now my blog is "under construction"...

**updated ~ ok it's all pretty again...what do ya think?? leave me a comment if ya like it!**

have a GREAT day!
love
mel

yay!

just got home not too long ago from my class & my prints turned out wonderfully! here is a sample of what i turned in. i actually turned in a bit darker print than this...but of course i had to turn my *perfect* print in! ;) i also did some photograms which i will add to this post. i think they came out pretty wonderfully if i do say so myself but the ones i really wanted to use had some spotting due to the chemicals {i think i was in a rush that day too so they weren't my 100%...but oh well!}. i am really learning how to use the light enhancer & let me just say, A LOT of WORK goes into this! it is NOT as easy as it looks or sounds.

it takes a lot of TIME and PATIENCE. time and patience. and money. LOL! i think i went through about 10 pieces of photo paper tonight! ridiculous! that stuff is NOT cheap either! :) but i think it's a learning experience and it's something i'm definitely going to do with the rest of my life because photography TRULY makes me HAPPY. i look back on the many things i COULD be or COULD BE DOING and the ONLY thing that excites me is taking pictures {and art...i adore ART}.

so anyway...it is closing in on 11pm and i still have to wake up at 6:15am so i am going to say GOOD NIGHT all. :)

monday - what!

A late wake up, a happy little “star of the week” girl up and at ‘em EARLY, an overly anxious pup named Miley, two cups of coffee and a pack of oatmeal later. It’s Monday! I can hardly believe it, these weeks are just flying by. It’s almost feeling like I’m Adam Sandler in that movie “Click” where he can’t get the remote to stop fast forwarding through life. It happens THAT quickly for us lately!

I have been taking the time to stop and smell the flowers (so to speak) lately though. I try to take a moment out of everyday for snuggling Haylee or reading to her or helping her with homework. I try to do the same with Tim. Sometimes you have to put yourself in that frame of mind or you’ll go crazy!

Today I think I’m a little tired from the weekend, it was such a great one though. I didn’t really feel like going to work and I’m not really feeling great about going to school tonight either. I have a project that is due tonight after lab. I’m just nervous about it and I don’t know why. Maybe because it’s not complete and I have only 1 hr tonight to complete it. But I’m trying to have all faith that it WILL be done (and can be done). On Saturday I had a little bit of a hard time developing my photograms. I don’t know if it’s because I wasn’t doing something right or what (there’s no teacher on Sat, just aides assisting in the dark room…so I didn’t get a chance to ask). Anyway…praying tonight goes so smoothly for me & that I can get that PERFECT print I need for my assignment done. It’s very important to me. I’m such a perfectionist and hard on myself that sometimes I wished I wasn’t. I’ve been told that is a good flaw to have, but in times like these it’s really not. ;) It’s annoying. (to me and everyone around me)

Oh I hope I’m not sounding too discouraged today. Hey, I LOVE my new haircut! Someone told me I look OLDER today. Hmm I’m not sure that’s a good compliment? But I think it looks so cute and hip and Tim loves it (he likes shorter hair on girls – namely me!). I’m happy…I feel lighter.

Ooooh I just remembered I need to take a snapshot of the photograms I am turning in & hopefully I will have a print I can download & show you too. This class, I’m learning a lot! I have never done the dark room before and it’s pretty cool. I still think I like capturing the photo best…we will see by the time this class is over. I am hoping to get an appointment with my counselor, then I have to take a matriculation assessment (because I’m short on units) and this Summer my goal is to take 2 or maybe 3 classes at this school. Yay! I think I’ll do one more photo class (well I will have to do almost all of them I believe for my AA in Photography) & 2 general classes (blehhh). I’m so happy I’m well on my way! Stepping outside the box hasn’t always been easy for me.

I hope you ALL have a fabulous Monday!

new 'do

so i got a new haircut this morning!! i REALLY like it! it's called an "A" cut & it's a little shorter in the back & longer in the front. :) i don't think these pics do it justice though. ;) maybe i can get some better ones later...LOL!

i also went to photo lab to do some photograms & they came out cute! i will probably post pictures of them later {maybe}. i will get my actual print from my tree done on Monday night's lab. i don't know when i'll be able to show you the pics of those, but hopefully soon. i think when i do a digital class it will be easier for me to share. ;)

well i'm going to go check on the girls...we've already picked out a movie from Hollywood Video, ordered & ate pizza, decorated the brownies & ate them with vanilla bean ice cream {yummmm!}. now the girls are playing in the fortress tim built for them. ;) they are having fun. this is the very 1st time haylee's had someone sleep over too! this is a whole new experience. :) hopefully lilly will make it through the night, she seems to be having a lot of fun! tomorrow EARLY - we're off to see Hannah Montana in 3D!

okie dokie, hope you are ALL havin' a fun weekend!! i know i am!