#6 of 365: Scrub a Dub

Someone tried to steal my car this morning around 1am. The lock on my door was destroyed and the door was slightly open when I got to it. Luckily my car alarm went off and woke me up. I was so scared and nervous about and for my car that I hardly slept the rest of the night. I tried to sleep in but got up and washed my car instead.

#5 of 365: Sleeping To Dream

My sleep mask is my best friend. As soon as the sun is up it is shining in my room like noon. Which makes it nearly impossible to sleep. So that is why I love my sleep mask.

#4 of 365: Wild Wild West

Yeah, I know this is the second shot in a row of just my lower body. I didn't mean to. I was in a hurry, on break from work, and just set the camera on the ground. But really I just wanted to show off my new vintage cowboy boots. I'm in love. And so are all the boys at work!

Cell Phone Night Photography

I wanted to do some night photography while at a bonfire at Desirae & Rusty's house the other night. I made everyone participate and be in my photos. Things started tame and mello but got crazier and sillier as the night went on. It was a blast!

We all took turns trying to spell our name with our cell phones.

Jeff did Ashley's for her.



It took Paige a hundred tries because she was having a hard time with all the loops. You try writing your name backwards like that!

Rusty came up with this hecka cool idea to outline people with the light and create pictures!

Paige is looking cute while Des shoots her with a gun.

I think I'm going to puke!

Des has bulging muscles and spiky hair.

I was supposed to be a cat but I kinda turned out to be a squirrel. Eric did a cool sun to the side.

This is all of us going crazy and dancing around.

This is all me. I thought I was on So You Think You Can Dance for a minute.


These next 2 are just creepy looking. We were going for a ghostly, supernatural look.

#3 of 365: Concrete Shoes

I see these giant concrete pipes off the freeway all the time and have wanted to take pictures of people there for months. So I stopped on my way home from church today. Let me tell you what a pain it was to trek through the weeds and dirt and ants to get to these pipes. I fell to my knees while getting off the pipe, I twisted my ankle while negotiating my way through the prickly weeds, I sunk into the dirt and had to pulled my foot and shoe out. My feet were killing me from walking back and forth from the tripod to the pipe for each shot. I only took 5 photos and left. And I did it all in 4 inch heels!

#2 of 365: My Name In Lights

I brought along my camera and tripod to Desirae's house for a bonfire tonight because I knew it would be a fabulous place to take my 365 photo today. There is this creepy shed on the edge of the orchards, and the light from the house and the sky made it even more creepy looking. We took a bunch of pictures playing around with our cell phones and this is me spelling out my name in a 20 second exposure. I definitely had the longest name and had to rush to complete it in time.



Note: There has been no post processing done to this photo. The sky and landscape really did look like this!

#1 of 365: Redhead

Yesterday I read about a photographer, Erin Greenlee, doing a self portrait project called "365" in which she took a photo of herself everyday for a year. The goal was to learn more about her camera but it turned into an exercise in inspiration and motivation.

I loved the idea so I am starting a 365 project of my own!

I got my hair cut and colored yesterday and I love the bright red color my hair is right after I get it dyed. The straight bangs are new too and I wanted to show those off.




If I can't post one that I take every day then I'll just post date it. So check back often and look through my ongoing project.

You can see Erin Greenlee's project on her website here.

New Nephew!

My sister Brittney and her husband Job had a baby boy a couple weeks ago! They named him Porter Scott. They just liked the name Porter and Scott is a family name from Job's side.

I went down to see my new nephew last weekend and while I was there Brittney wanted some photos of Porter to give as Father's Day presents. He was really hungry while we were taking them but there were only a few more minutes of daylight left so he just had to wait to eat. You can see how mad he is in this picture.


He was really tired as well as hungry.


The new momma with her baby boy!


Grandpa and grandson on Father's Day.


Aunt Kimberly holding Porter. Daddy Job is in the background.


Grandma and Grandpa with their third grandchild.


This was the third and last time I got to hold Porter the whole time I was there visiting. The first was when my mom and Brittney put him in bed with Kimberly and I the morning after we got there. The second time he was crying the whole time and peed all over my shirt. This last time him and I took a nap on the LoveSac. It was nice.


Look at how little he is on the big, old LoveSac!


So stinkin' cute!

I Twitter!

I've been hearing a lot lately about this mysterious Twitter. I've known about it for awhile now but didn't think it applied to me. But after reading a Time magazine article about Twittering I decided I'd give it a go. It's been less than 24 hours but I love it already! I've convinced Eric to use his Twitter account he set up and hasn't ever used. And Lori is going to start using her unused account too.

My favorite part is that I can do everything through texting on my phone and it posts right to my Twitter account! I don't get charged for internet, just texts. It's super easy and convenient!

Check out my Twitter page or you can follow me on this blog. Join if you feel so inclined and we can follow each other!

Should I dye my hair red?

I've been thinking about dying my hair red for awhile. I haven't dyed my hair in like 9 years. Back then I let Misty convince me that I needed blonde highlights. I did it because "everyone else was doing it." But the cap had a rip in it and I had giant chunks of random blondness. It was awful! So I the next day I went to a salon and she tried to cover it up with an orangeish color. It was pretty cool but ever since then I've been pretty satisfied with my natural color. I think I'm just ready for a little change. Look at the following pictures Photoshopped to show me with different variations of red and orange hair. Let me know what you think! Thanks!

Original Color


#1


#2


#3


#4


#5


#6

Making wishes

One Sunday, when Lori and Kurt were visiting California, we went for a walk at sunset. The park near our house was covered with dandelions that we raced around making wishes and blowing the heads off of.




You can see the dandelion pieces in Lori's and my hair because Kurt kept blowing them in our faces.

The Story Of The Broken Wristband

I have an amazing story to tell and a little promo work to do.

Once upon a time my friend Kyle got a wristband while he was on his mission in New Jersey that was white and said on it "I'm on a mission from God." Which is a Blues Brothers line but it totally pertained. I don't remember the story of how he got it but it was really special and important to him and he never took it off. We would play around with each other and I would tease him that I was going to break his wristband if he didn't stop teasing me. He would tell me that he would be so mad at me if I did. This went on for several months.

Then one night we were playing around and my hand went one way and his went the other and my finger caught his wristband and snapped it. It was an complete accident and I felt so bad. He just stood there in shock, holding the broken band in his hand. I apologized over and over. When he came out of shock the first thing he said was, "I'm not mad at you." He knew it was a freak accident but I still felt so sorry and I wouldn't stop apologizing.

Kyle said his wrist felt naked after that and it was so weird to be without it. Every chance after that he would let me know how sad he was that it was gone and I would let him know how sad I was that I broke it. I offered to replace it with a different wristband but he said no thanks. He even called a girl from his mission to check out the store where they sold them, but they didn't anymore. I thought it was hopeless and there was nothing I could do to fix what I did.

One Sunday morning, less than a week before Kyle's birthday, I woke up early and thought I'd do some searching on the internet to see if I could find another wristband. I did about a million searches in Google for variations of the description of the wristband. I searched for "missionary wristbands", "missionary bracelets", "on a mission from God", "Blues Brothers merchandise" etc. I was getting discouraged after searching through thousands of pages and not finding anything even remotely close. I finally did a search for "on a mission from God wristband" and found a contest website that had the wristbands as prizes. There were several other sayings of wristbands too. Like "I am here to serve", "God is my best friend", "I must give God my best", "I am God's number one fan", etc. In the photo of the wristbands on the website it also said on all of them "GOT PURPOSE?"

I couldn't remember if Kyle's had anything else written on it but I thought it wouldn't really matter if the new one did or didn't. So I immediately sent an email to the website asking about the wristband. Read the following email conversation to continue the story...


To Whom It May Concern:

My friend had a wristband that he got while serving a mission for our church that said on it "I'm on a mission from God." The thing is that I accidently snapped it. He was really disappointed and I've been looking for another for him. We even called the store he bought it at in New Jersey and they don't sell them anymore. I found your website from a google search and was wondering if you could tell me how I can get a wristband that says "I'm on a mission from God." Preferably in white but I'm sure any color would be acceptable. If you don't have them anymore could you please tell me how I might be able to find them to purchase.

Thank you so much for your help!

Christina


Later that day...


Hi Christina,

I actually only have one left and it is in white. We run a free contest website and award these and tons of other free prizes (including cash and lottery tickets) to our members on a daily basis.

I would be glad to send it to you for him. Isn't God AWESOME?! He sent you to me and I only had one left. :) I have already set it aside for you. Please let me know what address you would like me to send it to.

Also, please tell as many of your friends and family as possible about MyCoolContests.com. Let them know that we award thousands of free prizes each month and there are absolutely no gimmicks, no fees, no s&h, and no spam!

Have a Blessed Day!

Sincerely,

Bill B.
Your Friend at MyCoolContests.com



Bill,

You are amazing! And God is awesome! Thank you so much for doing this for me.
My address is...

Let me know how much it is for the wristband and shipping and handling, I will definitely tell my friends and family all about your website!

Thanks again! You are a life saver.

Christina



No way, no charge! I'll have it shipped out tomorrow.

God Bless,

Bill B.
Your Friend at MyCoolContests.com

The wristband came in the mail on Thursday. It was perfect. Beyond perfect. All it said on it was "I'm on a mission from God." Nothing else. I was so excited! I had decided to give it to Kyle for his birthday but his birthday wasn't until Saturday. I couldn't wait that long to give it to him so I made him open it when he came over Friday night. Here are the pictures of him opening it. Kyle was so excited and I was really happy that he didn't mind the replacement. It was slightly nervous-making to try to replace something like that.



Bill,

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
I received the wristband on Thursday. It was PERFECT!!! It is actually the friend's birthday today so I wrapped it up and gave it to him last night for his birthday present. He was super happy and said it meant a lot to him. I really appreciate you helping me out with this.

Thanks again!
Christina




No problem at all. I'm glad I could help. Please tell your friend I said Happy Birthday, and he has an Awesome Friend in you!

God Bless,

Bill
Your Friend at MyCoolContests.com



So Kyle has his wristband back and he lived happily ever after. The End.



The moral of the story is go check out MyCoolContests.com You can win tons of cool stuff. Tell them I sent you when you sign up.