Busy few days ahead. Tomorrow I’ll be at my aunt’s B&B all day preparing for a HUGE Latvian wedding taking place there on Saturday. The family and wedding party arrives in the morning and we’ll be setting everything up and decorating. Fun FUN! :) The bride’s mom is an architect from New York and her dad apparently an embassador to Latvia so it should be a really interesting group of people. They’re having a band perform from the East Coast & I’m hoping to get to hear them a bit at some point during set up because I LOVE live music. I won’t actually be able to stick around for the wedding itself because I’ve got tickets to a concert out of town Saturday night. So between helping with the wedding preparations Friday and Saturday all day, a concert Saturday night AND taking the boat up to Saugatuck for dinner Friday night for Scott’s birthday I am going to be one busy busy bugger! Finally all fun busy though so I’m actually looking forward to all of it. I’ve got tonight and Sunday to scrap and LOTS of fun stuff to scrap with between featured product kits to review for the newsletter and photos from the past couple of weeks. :)

My sister Tam was asking if I got any good shots of the kids while my SIL was taking their ‘couples’ pictures for their anniversary so I thought I’d post a few of my favorites here so she could see ‘em. :) (You can click on the photo to see it up closer but they’re just right out of the camera so don’t look too close. *wink*)

Wanted to post about Tam & Brian’s new church they’re starting too but that’ll have to wait till either later tonight or sometime this weekend. We finally got the chance to go there last Sunday and really loved it. Right now I’ve gotta get back to work though so I can get in a full night of scrappin’ and laundry tonight. Now just to figure out what to wear that’s appropriate both for meeting a Latvian embassador and getting alot of runnin’ around and hard work done. :)

I just have to share the link to our family blog. My SIL posted some photos from a photo shoot the other night at the beach and they turned out SOOO great! :) Mostly the blog is meant for us to chit chat about upcoming family stuff, sortof a calendar of the bigger events. Probably not interesting enough to follow or anything but every once in awhile there WILL be great pics posted by the famous family photographer (my SIL). :) Oh, and my brother is working on his own blog too at the moment. Once he starts that I’ll have to post a link. He’s one of the funniest people I know and is so stinkin’ smart it’s ridiculous. Right now he’s on an airplane to Thailand for 2 days for work. He’ll be flying around the entire world in a matter of days! He headed out this morning in one direction and will come back from the other direction. I’m a HUGE fan of flying but even I would be a little less than excited about spending THAT much time in an airplane. He does get to take off and land quite a few times to get there though and for that I’m jealous. LOL Anyway, I’m praying that his trip goes well and he stays safe abroad and I’d appreciate any other prayers on his behalf over the next few days. :)

Not much else to talk about really at the moment. I’m hoping to do some scrapping this weekend. I’m downloading Dawn & Trish’s new CD and I’ve already got TONS of other kits and photos just begging to be scrapped so hopefully I’ll get into a scrappin groove. We’ll see! :)

Edited to add: In regards to the photos on the family blog…do I NOT have the most gorgeous sister?! I swear she gets more beautiful all the time. And she’s one of those flawlessly pretty people. Like without even trying she’s perfect! If she weren’t my sister I’d be forced to hate her. LOL Fortunately she’s truly as beautiful on the inside. Could I BE any prouder of my family?! :) I don’t think that’s a bad kind of proud though, is it?

Just random stuff ‘cuz I haven’t been posting for a few days. First to answer Lisa, I’ve got a Canon Rebel, not the new fancy schmancy XT model because unfortunately I got mine about 2 months or so before the new model came out. I do LOVE it though and I love it even MORE when I’ve got a great lens attached to it. The one that comes with it was great too, just not AS great as the new one. :) I’m sure I’ll still use it plenty though for purposes the new one just won’t serve. Someone had also asked how much this new fancy lens costs and it was just $75 from b & h photo. Shipping was only like $4 and I should have it by Wednesday! Woo hoo!

I DID order my flight tickets for the Digital Scrapbooking convention Friday too. I should be arriving about the same time as Dawn I believe and hopefully some kind soul will be able to pick us up and get us to the airport. :)

Been working on my sprinkler system with my dad. He’s the BEST! We’ve got 2 zones out of 4 working and I could just sit on my porch and watch the sprinklers all night. We’ve had SUCH a dry summer here (I know, not really what those of you in Florida want to hear us complain about right?) but it’s taken a beating on my lawn. Hopefully we can get another zone or 2 working tonight and get them on a timer so I can water like crazy over the next week. Only problem is we’ll have to start mowing twice a week again but give me a headphone set and my favorite songs loaded to my mp3 player and I’ll be all set. :)

Feeling a little guilty on the ‘neat’ front. This entry has gotten a little lengthy to get into it at this point as I’m sure anyone reading has tuned out by now, not to mention myself if I ever go back down the road to read any of this. LOL In a nutshell I’m still trying to find a balance of being able to spend time with ALL the nieces and nephews while there are 2 of them that seem to ‘need’ my time much more than the others. Meanwhile I’m feeling really behind on the stuff I normally do when I’m NOT with the neats. Friends that I haven’t been able to help out like I should, creative stuff that I love doing but haven’t had the time for, a HOUSE that needs cleaning and yard work that needs to be done. It never ends. Oh well, probably a good topic for my next entry. So much to talk about, so little time. :)

Well, I did it! I ordered myself a new lens for my camera. A few of you have asked about the lens I borrowed for the photos taken on the 4th of July weekend. It IS in fact the 50 mm 1.8 lens. I just ordered my very own this morning and it should be here by mid or late next week. I can’t WAIT!! I almost paid the $20 extra for overnight delivery and if it were Thursday instead with the prospect of having it this weekend I’m certain I would’ve shelled out the extra dough. LOL Patience is NOT one of my stronger virtues. :) 

I’m also looking at flight prices for the digiscrapping convention in October. Just waiting to find out what time some of the other dtm’s are arriving on Thursday so I can hitch a ride to the hotel but as soon as I have a ride I’ll be booking my flight today. I’m soooo excited about this convention. I can’t believe how many of the dtm’s are able to go and teach classes and I’m excited to meet ALL of them in person. It’s going to be such a riot! :)

Anyway, been still trying to finish up training on the old job while learning the new job and I’m definitely ready to just have one. I’m excited to have some extra time hopefully next week to create some things for the store and scrap some of the amazing pics from last weekend. :)

My brother & SIL let me use their lense from their camera on my rebel and wow was I impressed with the photos that thing takes! I’ve always loved photos with a shallow depth of field and the lens they had was amazing for accomplishing that! :) Apparently it’s only a $70 lens so I’ll be adding it to my camera bag as soon as I can get one ordered. :) These are just a few of my favorite photos from last night out at my sister & BIL’s boat and I just got Rhonna’s Black Eyed Peas kit this morning so I had to use a quote from it that seemed to fit perfectly with the feeling of the night. :) I know I’ve been lax on my ‘blessings’ posts lately but I haven’t forgotten how blessed that I am. :)