Adobe Lightroom...

is AMAZING!!!  I am using the trial for 30 days, and though there is MUCH more to discover, I have finally found a way that I like some of my wedding photos!  Yay!!

Here are a few I've played around with a bit this evening:

I know they are no where near what other people can do, but I think it's at least an improvement...right?! Or am I delusional? ;)

i heart faces "family" challenge

I've decided to start taking more pictures, and especially more creative pictures. I found a great blog that has contests every week, so I am going to try to take up the challenge of doing it every week, whether I post them on their site or not.

The theme on http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/ this week is family. You can see more entries here.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Daddy and Baby G. Baby G was so happy that day, just smiling away, and Daddy was taking such joy in his little girl.

Reading Challenge Wrap Up

With all that's been going on the last month, I'm proud to be LESS THAN a month late for this wrap up post! Even though I didn't read very many of the books that I had on my list (wait, I think I only read one on there, come to think of it!), I feel very successful because I finally made time for myself and to enjoy one of my very favorite activities. It was some much needed "me" time, and I read whenever and wherever I could! In the bath, blow-drying my hair, whatever! I even once asked J to take care of the baby cuz I needed a break, and I read for over 3 hours...straight!!! I don't think there's been much in the last year or so that I have been able to do for that long!!

That being said, these are the books that I actually read/listened to:

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Pie Society (Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows)

The Color Purple (Alice Walker)

Odd Mom Out (Jane Porter)

Julie and Julia (on CD) (Julie Powell)

And the books I partially read are:

Cure for the Common Life (Max Lucado)

Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)

Finding Your Purpose as a Mom (Donna Otto)

I absolutely loved TGLAPPS, and had to keep reminding myself that it was fiction! Thought they did a wonderful job of making very real characters, and I found myself looking at the last page to check to see if the end was what I thought it should be!! I NEVER do that! I guess I just needed to know that everyone would be ok.

The Color Purple was...different than I had anticipated. I hadn't heard anything about it, other than, well, just hearing about it! It was a heart breaker for quite a while, and I think I actually missed quite a bit of it. Not sure if I will go back to read it to catch what I missed, though.

I was also really disappointed in Julie and Julia. I listened to the first few chapters on CD and then took a break because of all the bad language. As much as I hate bad language in books, I think it is SO MUCH WORSE to hear it read out! At least with an actual book you can kind of skim over it, but when you listen to someone drop the F*bomb all over the place while you have your one year old in the kitchen, THAT is a different story! After a while I rented it from Redbox and thoroughly loved the movie!! So I thought I'd continue to listen to the book, just in case it redeemed itself. It didn't. One of the few cases where I enjoyed the movie more than the book!

I had two other other goals for the challenge: to read my Bible more and to read to G more. Still working on the Bible reading, but at least I am doing it MORE. And G is now addicted to books. Her favorites are anything that have bunnies in them, and Moo Baa LaLaLa (Sandra Boynton). She sometimes even goes to bed with them. Pretty cute :)

Alrighty, I am going to go ahead and post this so I can check it off my "to do" list! I actually started it December 21st (the day the challenge ended), tried again on January 1st, another time in between then and now, and obviously today. I just keep telling myself, "At least I did it!"

Reading Challenge Update

So I have always loved reading. I used to get in trouble for reading "too much" (under my sheets when I was supposed to be sleeping, in the bathroom at school, etc). And in all my years of reading, I don't know that I have ever stopped reading a book because I didn't like the way it was going. I always thought, "Oh, it is bound to get better." Plus, I just HAD TO KNOW if it got better or not. I couldn't deal with not knowing.

This week was the first time that I know of that I have stopped reading a book for that reason. It was Real Life and Liars. It started out with the main character smoking weed, which is not terrible to read about, but my first thought was, "Ok, if this is in the first few pages, what is next?!" So I kept reading and there is a character who sounds like she wants to have an affair and it seems like the author is justifying it because she is no longer in love with her husband, nor he with her. And then the last straw was something that I don't even want to write on here because I was so shocked by it! And this was only in the first 50 or so pages!

So I was disappointed in the book, to say the least. It could have ended up being a fantastic book, but I'll never know, and honestly, weirdly, I don't even care. I hate that books used to be the "safe" option, when there was so much yucky stuff on TV, and now I feel like my mind has been violated! I hate that it seems like our society doesn't feel like a tv show, movie, and now BOOK, is not successful or something unless it has a sex scene in it! Yuck.

I also finished Odd Mom Out, which was...interesting. At some times I felt like the author was saying that stay at home moms are really just a bunch of losers who have nothing better to do than go to country clubs and spas. Pretty sure I work just as hard as women in the work force! Yes, I sometimes watch TV while I do it, but I hate that I am being made to feel like my "job" means nothing.

And then to top it off, after the author gets you hooked on the book, like a couple of hundred pages in, there are two or so random scenes where I felt completely awkward reading! I actually showed them to James cuz I all of a sudden felt like I was reading a dirty book! She did not go into a huge amount of detail, and it was nowhere near as bad as the previously mentioned book, but still a bit unnecessary.

Alrighty, so I just had to share and vent about my reading experience thus far! On the plus side, I am loving Pride and Prejudice, and would love to read more Austen! I thought it would be a lot harder to understand (I have little patience for "thees" and "thous" :)) and I love that Austen makes her characters very likeable.

I also took an unintentional break from my goals of this challenge (reading the Bible, reading to Gracie and reading at least 10 minutes a day) because I was sick, then Gracie got sick, then we were both sick, then teeth came in, then I got sick again. Now I am finally feeling better, teeth are in and dirty books are back at the library, so hoping to start up again soon!

Okay, this was a long post, much longer than I intended it to be! So congrats for making it to the end! 2 bucky beaver points for YOU!

Fall Into Reading 2009 Challenge

Yay! I am so excited for fall! Not only do I love the colors, the smells, the crisp air, and everything else that comes with my FAVORITE season, but I am UBER excited to join in on the Fall Into Reading put on by Callapidder Days. Since Gracie has been born, I have not been able to read much and now that she is able to entertain herself more, I'm looking forward to remedying that! I have chosen a few books that I would like to get read, but I'm not going to put a lot of pressure on myself because I want to ENJOY reading, not feel like it's a chore. So here are some of the books on my list:

I have never, ever read a Jane Austen book so I thought that would be a good one! One of my goals in life is to read all of the Top 100 bestsellers books and this is on there, so I thought I'd give it a shot!
I am now obsessed with Julia Child. I don't even know anything about her, but with the new movie coming out and my love for trying new recipes, I am very excited about getting to know more about her!
And this is because my little one is probably getting bored with what I feed her! Hopefully she'll get some teeth soon so we can try even more recipes!


All of these three books were reviewed on a blog I read, and since I've been out of the reading world for a while and have no idea what's out there, I thought they would be fun ones to read.
Ooooh, this one I am very excited about. It goes through each month and says what needs to be done for a garden. Now that we are in our house, I am BEYOND thrilled to have our own garden. Food just tastes so much better when you know pretty much exactly what happens to it! And I think it will be a great thing to do as a family.
Told you I'm obsessed ;)

And you gotta love a bit of Joyce Meyer. I don't actually think I've finished most of the books I've started of hers, not real sure why. But this one I bought so that I could read it and pass it on, because I think it's something every woman needs to read!

In addition to these books, I am also setting myself 3 challenges:

1. I will read at least a chapter of the Bible every day.

2. I will read to Gracie at least every other day (she gets very squirmy so it's hard to keep her attention for very long!). She has been very interested in my mom's books recently, and actually looking at the pictures instead of tearing up the pages, so I think it's a good time!

3. I will set aside at least 10 minutes a day to read. Doesn't matter what it is, just want to start replacing some of my TV or internet time with something without a screen.

Okay! That's all! Like I said, I am super excited for this! I love love LOVE reading and can't wait to get back into it!

Dear Mr. Tooth,

Please come out. You are causing my baby girl a lot of pain. You have made her clingy and cranky, two things that she has never been. You have been trying to come out for a couple of months now, so come on little guy, come out little fella, we won't hurt you. You will be safe here. You will have good job security, she will put you to work right away, and in this economy that is hard to find!

Thank you, and my family and I look forward to meeting you.

Sarah