Tuesday, June 30, 2009

he came back!

the bird that is.

he visited this morning, but i'm not sure he'll be returning. i'm sure he now thinks we are mean to birds.

you see, his view inside our door is straight over to jude's cage. if it's not bad enough to have a bird caged, just last night jude's cage got a lot smaller.

we are leaving for indiana today, and james started to breakdown his cage. it comes apart in the middle. so it's a lot smaller than usual. jude is not too happy with us.

we decided to leave a day earlier. so as soon as james gets off work we will be on the road north, in the truck. poor james has to deal with a nearly 7 month pregnant lady, a beagle who insists on being right next to him (jerk stole my best friend) and an unhappy cockatiel.

this should be a fun ride!

Friday, June 26, 2009

flickr.

james surprised me and renewed my subscription a month or so ago.

i've been slowly adding pictures trying to catch up.

if you click the link on the right it will take you to my sets.

the first two rows are all new.

that's what's been going on down here!

Thursday, June 25, 2009

making ma proud.

in the last couple weeks i've had conversations with a couple different groups of friends about tattoos. what we each had, when we got them and so on.

so i figured why not share here?

1. a triquetra, a celtic symbol of trinity. i got this freshman year of college. a month after james and i broke up. a month before my 19th birthday. it's probably held up the nicest. i remember the artist's name was sid. two of my friends and my brother dave were with me. i didn't have enough cash, and they didn't take checks so dave offered up dad's atm card. with one requirement...i had to call and make sure it was okay. with a promise of paying him back, and i'm sure a few eye rolls on his end, i was sitting there getting my first one, and clueless about an addiction that was to come.

2. an ichthus. jesus fish. i got this one the semester after i moved home from purdue. my 20th birthday. it was a present from ma. she was going to get one on her wrist, but she chickened out and couldn't even stay in the room. this one was my favorite for a long time. it sits perfect next to flip flop straps, or on top of ballet flats. it's been a conversation starter, a witnessing tool. since then, i know a lot of camp girls who have gotten similar ones. it's like our mark. when james and i got back together we realized that we have the same tattoo. he has this on his hand. he got his done in italy a few years after i got mine, but neither of us knew the other had it.

3. chi rho. the first two letters of Christ in the greek alphabet. this one was very spur of the moment. i had just finished my year of living in indy with ralf. ma and i got her a tattoo as a birthday present. while waiting at the shop, i just decided to get another. i knew what i wanted, but i didn't have a picture. so i borrowed a post-it and drew it myself. i was 23. i like it because not many people know it's there. it's hidden unless my hair is cut short, or completely up.

4. shamrock. in honor of my birthday. i got this one the night of my 24th birthday. it was another spur of the moment decision after a giant texas margarita. my friend, catie, wanted to get her nose pierced. adrienne was with us and her and i walked out with tattoos and catie walked out with no piercing. ha! i was comforted by a phone call to ma and i said "guess what i got." and she said "a shamrock on your hip." so it was totally out of nowhere. :) it hasn't really changed yet, even with the growing bump. it was pretty low to start with though.

5. lullaby. for our angel baby. the night we found out about the miscarriage ua sent james and i an andrew peterson song to listen to. it was called 'lullaby' and the words were perfect for our situation. i wanted something concrete to remember our first baby by. some people weren't thrilled (james included) but i just wanted this kid to leave it's mark, and not be forgotten. i got this the day after Christmas 2008, i was 25. tammy came with me. we laughed when i filled out the form because you had to say whether or not you were pregnant, and we weren't sure at that time if we were. turns out, yes, yes i was! :) it took awhile to decide which wrist, but we picked the left for a few reasons. the artist didn't understand why i would want it facing me, but i just told him it was being done for me. it is still a comfort.

i laugh now thinking when i had 3 i said "okay 3 is a good number." then "well, i like even numbers" and now here i am at 5. not sure if this it. i'm running out of hiding places. they are pretty balanced out now, and only one shows everyday, and only if i'm wearing short sleeves.

we'll see.

i do like that each one was done while living in a different town. lafayette, hebron, indy, san antonio, and now georgia.

that's my story in ink.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

birds love me.

apparently.

at my last appointment for bean i decided i was going to bring my camera and see if i could catch a shot of the cardinal.

this cardinal has tapped on the window at every single appointment i've been to! doesn't matter which side of the building i'm on. he makes his rounds. the doctor's joke about him. he even visits the waiting room.

i think they hired him to keep patients entertained while they wait!

tammy got the pleasure of seeing him when she came with me.

he's so cute.

then, just yesterday, i was sitting on the couch and heard a tapping on the back window. i look and this little guy was flapping his wings until he found a place to land.

he stayed there for awhile, i got up, grabbed my camera and got a few shots. he'd fly away, but always come back and sit on our door.

not sure what kind he is, but i liked his coloring.

we don't even have bird feeders. i think we need to invest in some!

i like to think i've had some visitors from above. just dropping by to say hi!

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

twenty five.

a big happy birthday to my james lee!

for your, or maybe just my, viewing pleasure, 25 of my favorite shots.
i'll save the 25 reasons i love him for an e-mail. save you from the mush. last time i did that was for his 17th birthday. let's see how easily he gives me reasons to love him. ;)


wish we could be together to celebrate. maybe next year! i love you jimmie lee.

always.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

inspired.

i wanted to share one of my favorite blogs with you. adrienne introduced me to it last summer, and i can't get enough.

it's called soule mama. she is so inspiring, and has written a few books.

every time i visit her page i just feel this calm. it's peaceful to read, even though she has 4 kids! it reminds me what the important things are. it reminds me to be simple.

i wish i could make some of the creations she does, but for now i'll settle looking at her stuff, making my own, and just enjoying this life.

with a new baby coming it's so easy to get wrapped up in all the new, shiny things. i hope to keep it simple with our kids. sort of like the way we were raised.

ua and i joked that you can't really register for sticks and rocks can you?

since dav first shared an article about "plastic oceans" and then knowing someone who's son was going to study them, i've been aware of all the unnecessary plastic around us. we try to reduce our use of it, and also paper products. adrienne and i started using cloth napkins and that is something that stuck. i don't mind the extra wash for less waste.

when luke and tammy visited they were looking for bowls and cups that were safe for the kids to use. we actually don't have any tumblers or plastic cups in the house. i found one that we use for maggs' baths. we joked that it was because we don't have any kids yet.

yes, that's true, but even with a baby coming, i'm still trying to keep the plastic junk at bay.

there are so many natural toys out there, and i'm lusting after a few currently. ma just sent bean some quilt balls she found at an antique store. they are adorable, and soft.

i'm hoping we can keep it going this way. if soulemama can do it with 4 kids, surely we can too!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

well hello...

3rd trimester. it's nice to finally meet you!

we're all just sitting here waiting.

yes, i totally found maggs laying like this the other day. what you can't see is his bone in front of him. i think he's curious about what's coming, and am sure he's not going to like it too much!

Monday, June 15, 2009

what a weekend!

james surprised me with a trip to atlanta. we went saturday and sunday. his original plan was to get keith urban/taylor swift tickets, but they only had nosebleeds left, so instead we got two city passes. he told someone from church that we were doing this now, before i "got too fat to walk around much." thanks babe! :)

the city pass let us tour cnn headquarters, world of coke, the aquarium, botanical gardens, zoo, and art museum. we didn't make it to the last two, but we still got our money's worth!

saturday we were off to a late start, and had to stop at paper-source first. my main reason for wanting to go to atlanta, before i knew about all the fun stuff we had planned.

after that we hit up cnn headquarters and since they tape 24 hours a day we got to watch a little bit of live action. it was pretty interesting!

the next day, after church, we zipped on down there again and started at world of coke. most of it was a self guided tour. learned a lot, saw some cool things, and sure got our fill in the free tasting room!

after that we went to the aquarium, i had been wanting to go here for awhile. it was awesome! we had a private behind the scenes tour. (private because we were the only ones that signed up for that time slot) saw a bunch of tropical fish, a beluga that laughed, a few whale sharks, and a bunch of other aquatic life.

from there we hit up the world's largest drive-in aka "the varsity" for some dinner, then we were on our way to the botanical gardens.

it was so peaceful, and smelled amazing! james was my tourguide, telling me the names of all the structures, and what garden we were entering, all thanks to the map.

they have the largest orchid room, and we got to see a flower that is only open for 3 days out of the year. all the flowers made me miss steve's (the flower shop i worked at) and i actually had a dream about all of them last night!

it was a great weekend, but it wore me out. nice to get out and do some fun things while it's still just the two of us!

spent today crafting. can't wait to share what i did, but it's a gift, so it'll have to wait!

we head back up to indiana in just a few weeks! so excited!

Saturday, June 13, 2009

do something creative every day.

that is paper-source's motto, and one adrienne and i love.

james and i took a trip to atlanta today just so i could visit their store. the second you open the door you can just feel a wave of inspiration.

i have been less than inspired lately, even with a clean crafty room, but i've been trying to get back into it. especially since bean is coming quick, and i know these free afternoons will be limited.

a few weekends ago i decided to dust off my sewing machine and experiment. we've been trying to get recycling going in our house. we have to drop it off ourselves, and i admit, we'd just been lazy.

i figured a nice new recycling bag would do the trick. i planned on whipping up three, but once i got done with this one i figured it would be big enough.

i'd just sort at the recycling place. make a weekly trip when i go to the library.

so here's what i came up with, and i am pleased.

it's huge and cute!

the fabric was all leftover from the wedding tablecloths.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

double digits!

99 days until bean's due date!

crazy.

Friday, June 5, 2009

5th rtb open house.

last weekend they had the open house up at camp.

friday the families were invited to come out, skip all the saturday crowds, and watch the demonstrations. erica, brayden and i headed up there. it was pretty fun! very cool to see what the guys do.

james sat in the woods all day and set off explosives during one of the demonstrations of an enemy ambush.

adam had a bit more fun and hung from a rope as one of the helicopters took them away. (there were many more technical terms, but i'll spare you!) in the picture below he is the one on the very top.

we also got to see a HALO (high altitude, low opening) jump. the first round didn't go off so well. none of the chutes opened, so they had to pull their reserves, and there was still a problem with two of them. thankfully we have lots of trees around here. you can see 3 of the 6 guys in the first pic. they had a bet going to see who could land closest to the sand pit.

they showed off some hand to hand combat, another use for piano wire, machine guns, and climbing and repelling from the tower.

all mixed in with many visits from the helicopter.

we ended up coming out the next day too. it was pretty crowded, but worth it.

and we'll never forget..."rangers lead the way!" :)

adam and erica are in the picture below, with their son brayden. james was with adam over in afghanistan and at ft. bragg. they live right up the road from us now. adam just graduated in may from ranger school. we'll miss them when they head to ft. stewart in the fall!

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

for my dad...

got this email from ma this morning...

"shel dad wants to see pics of your belly and your face together! he said he looks at the belly and he can't get his mind to believe that that is his litlle girl cause he doesn't see your face!!!"

so here you go, 6 months pregnant, little sleep, bedhead, no make up version of shel...

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

ten.

months ago.

that is also the amount of months i have been pregnant. i just realized by the time bean comes i will have been pregnant for the first 13 months of our marriage. poor james! this picture is in honor of my cravings. i could really go for some cake right about now!

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