Days Go By

These are randoms, but good randoms, just things accumulated over the last handful of days.

Their New Normal, Too

I'm so grateful for friends who let me be exactly who I am right now. A woman who is not just an expectant mother with a protruding abdomen on the surface, but a woman who is thinking and processing so much as life is changing. And they're letting me change and loving me through it. And buying gifties and planning showers and reaching for my belly. In the stretches of days when I am home alone or just hanging with Cliff in the evenings, I'm grateful for the every couple of weeks get-togethers as they may be, the dinners and the hugs and the laughter. For somehow without having really done this before, opening themselves up to our new normal as a part of their own, whether they've had kids or not or whether that's the last thing on their own minds. They haven't run away and I should thank them more often for that - it means the world to me.

Yes, I Have Mom-Brain

As much as I didn't think I'd be that person, I am. Every other Instagram, every other Facebook status update, every other everything = baby. But when I take inventory of my days, the subsist of things like grocery shopping, meal prepping, bank running, lunch grabbing, photo taking, image editing, blog writing, gallery uploading, and that's the humdrum stuff - well - the stuff that I've always been doing. And I don't have the baby wearing, breast feeding, diaper changing, cry calming action going on yet so everything is about preparation... about making space in my home and in my mind and in my heart for a life that will be dependent on us as we're dependent upon each other and the Lord to make this all work. So yeah, while I'm doing a lot of normal things I always do, I'm thinking a whole lot more through all of that about topics which are entirely mommified... cloth diapers, blackout curtains, nursery furniture, baby bedding, craft decorations and more.

I'm a WorkerBee

Speaking of normal things, work is busy right now. Unbelievably good busy and it feels like it came out of nowhere. Isn't that funny how that happens? One day you're in the middle of a few slow months where it just so happens to be okay because of a string of trips... and then even with the weekends full, my weekdays are busier than ever. This past weekend alone was assisting with two weddings and had five sessions scheduled, which, as fortune would have it (as I was really quite over scheduled upon review) two sessions cancelled and I only had three. But a busy weekend makes for an even busier week as all of the follow-up stuff is really what takes time. And it's looking like these next two months are going to be just about the same. And though I'm feeling good and recovering well, I get worn out so much easier these days, and I am without a doubt glad to be giving myself a margin of about five and a half weeks from my last session to my due date - knowing Virginia could come at any time.

What a Man, What a Man, What a Man, What a Mighty Good Man

Man oh man, is Clifford the bomb dot com. I'm serious. I can't imagine how much I will grow to love him and adore him and respect him more every day Virginia is here if, in the days leading up to her arrival, I am finding myself doing the same. The way he asks me to hug him from behind so he can feel my stomach on his back and calls them "Daddy hugs"... the way he talks to my belly... the way he goes out of his way to make sure I am feeling cared for. How he doesn't just tolerate but protects my fragility in moments of complete emotional and physical exhaustion - which given my schedule last weekend - can be frequent. And then through all of that he is so present and attentive to our home and the projects that need to be done, doing them for his sake and mine and making me thank God everyday that I married someone with a crazy amount of work-ethic and problem-solving skills. It's amazing how much more of a companion he has become and he has always been one - I just never knew it could be this much more and steadily so.

Best Guesses

There's SO MUCH to update on, but we'll start with this:

We've created a baby pool for everyone to join in the fun with us of anxiously wondering (and guessing) Lil' Turkey's identity... gender... expected arrival... size... etc. You can enter a guess yourself (please, only one!) by following the link above or the official banner, which can be found on the right sidebar or on Lil' Turkey's page above (did you notice that?!) 

Once the day rolls around where we can clock in the actual information afforded to us by his or her arrival, we'll calculate the winner who will be richly rewarded for their sheer genius (or pure luck) with gifties! Those of you who make your guesses BEFORE July 11th and are correct about the gender (which we will, alas, be finding out THAT DAY) will have your names thrown into a hat, one of which will be selected and given an early reward for, again, being so dang smart (or lucky).

So play on, family & friends!

Good Week

Turned 27 on Tuesday. Got a smorgasbord of giftcards. Was surprised by some of my dearest friends at what I thought was a dinner, just Cliff and I, at J's. Spent some much-needed time turning a few personal projects around and getting some work done. We've also been plugging away this week preparing for a week (plus a couple of days) away. And today, it is upon us.

Our trip, that is.

From Nashville to Yosemite (by way of Sacramento)... then to Redwood on the coast... then up into Oregon to Crater Lake... rounding back down into Lassen... and back home (again, by way of Sacramento). It'll be quick and long in the way that days spent playing in the woods are - perfect for rest and exhaustion and everything in between. I'm dying to throw up our hammocks by the river and just hang in the glory of it all.

This trip includes a few milestones for Lil' Turkey: first flight and a string of consecutive entries in the travel journal we've been keeping for him/her. So that's fun!

Over and out!

Everyone once in awhile...

Bare Escentuals has their out-of-this-world sale on some select items for one day only (don't bother clicking that after 9PM Pacific Time). You may remember my escapades last fall, stocking up on some goodies.

Today wasn't too different...

With a total savings of $83.50!

In a Long Time

For the first time in a long time, I feel compelled to blog.

Up until now, my approach to blogging has followed a thought route a bit like this:

Huh. I wonder when was the last time I blogged? It feels like forever ago.

Checks blog.

Oh, it was forever ago. Well certainly something was worth blogging about in that time. Right?

Scratches head, looks at calendar.

Yeah, I mean, I guess so. Maybe I should just write a summary post to keep our audience... all two of the people reading this... happy and informed. Yeah. Yeah, I'll do that.

Blogs.

Don't have to touch that again for a month!

And repeat.

It's a funny thing to want to scratch out the thought bubbles that go on inside one's brain onto a four by five box on a webpage so that someone will see and read it - even if it's just me three years from now.  But alas, we must sometimes indulge our compulsions...

I've been fairly private and isolated by my normal standards of web interaction, lately. Yet, today I want to shout from the rooftops the intricacies of life in this season for us.  Knowing how to share those things, however, is one of the most perplexing challenges of all.

How do I tell you that my heart has been reawakened to my life's work as a wife and companion TO THE BEST HUSBAND IN THE WORLD? That I've read three books in the last two weeks pertaining to topics such as starting a family, reclaiming passion in your marriage, and making music (haha). And that's only three of the NINE BOOKS Cliff purchased to add to our library while I was in Italy. All nine pertaining to marriage related subjects which we'd hope, one day, to share with others.

How do I tell you that we are, for the first time in three and a half years, completely and totally uninhibited from the possibility of bringing kids into this world? That every day is this crazy mixture of hope and joy and freedom, knowing that at just about any time - in His timing - God could bless us with new life. I should admit to you in this telling, however, that my impatience will likely make this more of a challenge for myself than it should be, seeing as I've wanted this FOR SO LONG.

Well there, that was easy.

And so now I drink my morning cup of coffee, make my grocery list for the week, and turn to face another day with a few more thought bubbles shared and my heart lifted in the sharing.

Thanks for reading!

What Crazy People Do

This is what crazy people do the night before one of them is to leave the country for two weeks.

Packing was happening at multiple levels last night... boxes, a suitcase, Christmas tubs.

Kudos to Cliff for clearing the remaining rooms without me tonight - and to Aaron for his brawn last week with some of the bigger furniture and boxes. Anyone wanna help Cliff move this stuff back in? ;)

I can't even IMAGINE how awesome our floors are going to be when I get home from...

ITALY!!! (holy cow, holy cow, holy cow)

That's Our Normal

It's September 25th, a Saturday morning. The windows are open, my Autumn Fruit candle is burning (why have we not figured out how to make scents come through computer screens?), and the dishwasher is running - full of remnants of our evening of Italian food and wine and... bread. So much bread. Thanks to which, all I have in my stomach now, though we've been up since 6AM, is a good cup of coffee, courtesy of a little Bongo Java homebrew. I can't even think of eating breakfast yet, because I feel like I ate my whole Saturday's worth of food from the span of 6PM - 10 PM last night.

I've managed to talk to my mom (who is eagerly awaiting her departure for her first mission trip, to Ethiopia no less), do the dishes, clean the kitchen, vacuum, fuss over my now blank-screened phone, and take a pregnancy test. Yeah, I just put that out there.

It's negative, which for right now is a good thing. Talk to me after the new year begins and I might say otherwise. In the whole span of our marriage, I've taken four - and each with that sense of "Oh my gosh, could this be now?" sort of feeling that creeps in when one... two... three... four days or more passes after what is supposed to be the arrival of every woman's curse. Even if you know it's highly improbable - it lurks in the back of your mind, taunting you with "the only way to know is to pee on a stick". Yeah, I said it.

And then Cliff says, "I peed on a stick once." And I ask, "What?" And he says, "Yeah, it was on the ground... I was peeing outside."

And that's our normal.

Two Things

First:

I realize my last post would have been far more powerful, had I given you an example.
A pictorial one, perhaps.



(Sure, it's not a fixed place, exactly. But it often serves as our home away from home.)

Second:

It's no surprise around here that my blogging has been, shall we say, less than par as of late (okay, fine, the last... year?). With that, my casual observance of statistics and assorted sundries has also gone out the window. Until today. And I've noticed an interesting and strange thing, and I'd love some help on the matter...

A good amount of my blog traffic in the last couple of months has been driven by:

Joyful Abode
and Big Mama

Now how/why is that? (Not that I mind; both are bloggers I respect and read occasionally!)

Negligence

So, yeah.

We've been to Germany.
And now we're back.
And then my brother came to visit.
And then my mom and my sister.
And then we went to the lake with them.
And now we're back, again.
And a week from tomorrow we leave for the Grand Canyon.

And then I (probably mistakenly) believe that come September 8, life won't be so much going and coming. But I'm not sure that's ever true for us.

What I wanted to say, is that I've still been writing entries for here in my head.

Like this really great one about movies about love stories aren't always so great about showing you the underbelly of how much a marriage can be tied to that beautiful creature that is family. I'm pretty certain it'll be a good one, problem is finding the time to write it.

It's amazing how much my life expression is photo-dominant, these days.

I miss words.

Not just words, because that's never been my full story, but words nonetheless.

So, maybe after September 8 (that's our first full day back from the Grand Canyon) things will be different. And if they're not, well then, you probably won't be disappointed because my musings about shaking things up around here have gone... unfulfilled.

Happy July and Eight Things...

It's been awhile since I've been tagged to post something like this, and I'll happily oblige for Mrs. Henry - someone whose blogs about her beautiful baby Caroline melt my heart to pieces! I technically answered all of these on Wednesday so the whole "yesterday" thing applies to Tuesday.

8 Things I'm Looking Forward to...
1) Fahren nach Deutschland in drei Wochen! (Going to Germany in 3 weeks!)
2) Quiet mornings at the lake this holiday weekend.
3) My mom, sister, and brother's visit here in August!
4) Celebrating three years with the most wonderful man in the world.
5) Catching all of this summer's AWESOME movies :)
6) Tomorrow morning's cup of coffee.
7) Our Grand Canyon trip, FO SHO.
8) Finishing the first guest room!

8 Things I did Yesterday...
1) Edited sessions
2) Prepped a blog post
3) Shot a headshot session
4) Had lunch with Heather!
5) Went to the Farmer's Market
6) Shredded
7) Had dinner with our houseguests at Chuy's
8) Went for an evening walk

8 Things I Wish I Could Do...
1) Write, complete, and publish a book.
2) Get some momentum (and more financing, haha) on my projects inside the house.
3) Be a mom.
4) Fly!
5) Go on a month-long vacation to Australia and New Zealand with the Cliff-meister.
6) Live in a custom-built farmhouse-style home on a big piece of land close to mountains and rivers with a beautiful view to wake up to every morning.
7) Never worry about what I see in the mirror.
8) Make every person know their worth.

8 Shows I Enjoy... (don't judge)
1) Grey's Anatomy
2) Private Practice
3) Parenthood
4) The Office
5) Family Guy
6) Gossip Girl
7) Pretty Little Liars (I said DON'T JUDGE, people!)
8) EVERYTHING on Food Network (when I get access to it, I don't turn it off... ever.)

Moving Along

Life seems to be careening ahead at a rapid pace. It's as though my mind can't wrap itself around the days that are slipping by. Days filled with so much that they're hard to hold onto. There's a lot of newness and oldness combined that it's hard to remember what we haven't chronicled here. And as much it's been hard to put down, I want to chronicle it because it's one of the only places that, apart from my Moleskin, holds pieces of this crazy, wonderful, swiftly moving life we live.

So this post is more for me than you. But for anyone who's been wondering how we are - how we really are - these days... here you go.

Home
Yes, all of the work was done on our home just in time for the flooding I alluded to in the last update. The damage that has been done in communities around here is unfathomable, but it's real - and we feel incredibly fortunate to have walked out of all of this with only six inches of water in the crawlspace and some leaking in the roof (in a room that it hardly matters it happened there). The damage would have been far worse had we not had all of those drainage and remediation projects going on in March and April, and it's just another example, we believe, of God's perfect timing.

Speaking of timing... though it doesn't quite count as home, I don't want to give "Car" its own category... I got in an accident with the new car two months to the date of the deer incident and we finally got the car in the shop on Monday (just shy of a month since the accident). I was cut off in traffic in Cool Springs (errrrr) and hit in the same exact spot as the deer. So that was fun (not so much, at the time), but just proof that life happens and you can't live your life bracing for it - you just have to be prepared to move on afterwards.


Work
Things are great on both sides of our working coins. Cliff amazes me everyday with his ability to do his job with such excellence, such patience, and such determination to not must make money but help his ELPs. This determination has carried us through my first couple of months of full-time self-employment which never, unfortunately, goes entirely to plan. But because of that, it's right where it needs to be. Growing not because I can necessarily make it do so like some magic trick, but because I have the conviction of trusting the Lord with the direction and the opportunities and acting when those are revealed. The last couple of weeks have been a lesson in asking - truly asking - and gratefully receiving.

And though this doesn't exactly count as work, Cliff's been doing something pretty cool with himself these last few weeks being a part of the Franklin Citizen's Fire Academy. With his interest in joining the Williamson County Volunteer Rescue Squad, the CFA is giving him a lot of first-hand, hand's-on experience with fire and rescue work done by Franklin Firefighters. Once a week he spends a couple of hours in lectures and live demonstrations of all sorts of things, and just this week he's starting his ride-alongs with our friend Jamie who is a firefighter with Franklin.

Church
I realize it's been months since we've started our time at Fellowship Bible Church and not once have I shared this part of our journey. After being at The People's Church for five years and experiencing a lot of personal change, as well as change in the church and our communities there, we started to feel a tug in a different direction. Not knowing exactly what direction, late last summer we began visiting just a few churches in the area. After several months of visiting different places, it became really clear that our hearts felt most at peace and excited and encouraged and everything they should feel when God is prompting you to do something... when we were at Fellowship.

And so with the beginning of this new year, we went through their Discovery Class series to learn more about the church and its mission and became members in mid-February. We have so enjoyed our time there already, from services on Sunday (or Saturday!), to looking for new places to serve, to playing soccer on Mondays, and now to...


Germany
Yep, that's right. Wir fahren nach Deutschland! With a team of fifteen other folks from Fellowship - including one of our Community Pastors, our Children's Minister, and other leaders, we'll be heading out to Potsdam, Germany the day after our third anniversary this summer. We'll be the first mission team to visit with one of our church's strategic partners, working specifically with the church in their children's outreach and church planting efforts. You can read more specifically about the partnership here, as we get many questions like "So, uh... why Germany?"

We're looking forward to going on our first mission trip abroad together - a unique way to celebrate our anniversary, I think - and immersing ourselves in the German culture for about two weeks. I've been itching to get over there for upwards of twelve years now since I first started studying the language and the opportunity to do so now while being with Cliff, being a part of important work, and spending time with children is just about as exciting as it can get. Stay tuned as we get closer to that trip to hear more!

Travel
Here lately we've traveled a bit to visit with family, which was nothing short of wonderful. There's nothing like a good roadtrip and long days spent just hanging out with your family when you're used to those quick visits weekends and working afford you. That's just one beautiful part of my now flexible schedule and Lampo's generous time-off offerings. Later this month, we'll be heading out to Colorado (my first time setting foot outside of the airport) for Memorial Day weekend to enjoy a three day weekend in the cool mountains, blooming alpine flowers, and more.

This trip had the makings of our spontaneous trip out to Wyoming in '08 when we were just weeks away from a holiday weekend with little idea of what to do. So, Cliff says "What about Colorado?" and I say "Let's see." And as fate would have it, fares (yeah, no driving this time) were low, as are camping fees and having an ELP-friend to stay with in Denver for one night. And so we're going to CO, with likely a stop at the Coors brewery, and the most of the rest of our time playing in Rocky Mountain National Park (you didn't think we'd go somewhere like Colorado and NOT visit a NP did you?!)

Speaking of National Parks... we've just gotten word that we've been approved for a permit to hike the Grand Canyon on Labor Day Weekend this year. Incredible. We've been hoping to do this for years and finally got the gumption to, along with seven friends, apply for a permit for a four day hike in and out of the Canyon. So with the trip to Germany and now our Memorial Day and Labor Day plans, this summer is turning out to be... busy, travel-wise. Whew. But we're not complaining!

I've Got Wings

I seriously can't get over what just having the new car has done for my psyche. It's like someone just told me I have wings. Wings that I don't have to use, but can. Wings that I haven't even had but all of sixteen hours (only eight of which I have been awake for) and have looked for excuses to use.

How is it that in many circumstances, I despise my hair whipping in the wind. But put me in my new car listening to U2's "Beautiful Day" on a 70º spring evening on the way to play outside with my favorite human in the whole world... and how dare you even consider rolling up the windows or closing the sunroof?!

YES. S-U-N-R-O-O-F. You'd think they were a new invention the way I get giddy at the thought of being able to choose whether to see through the top of my car, let alone open it, and heck, even stick my hand out. I didn't even know I really wanted one until I found out it had one. Unexpectedly.

I know this will die down, like most things do. The same way my sadness over losing Chin did. But gosh, this vehicle is a blessing. Especially after exactly forty days of getting in the accident, thirty-three days since they took the Civic from us, and twenty-six since I gave up the rental and have been without a vehicle. And still, all of it, in perfect timing. From foregoing the daily commute to work from home, to rescheduled photo sessions for better weather, to being in Vegas for a week, and now just in time for our adventure to the East Coast to be with my family for a bit.

p.s. I love having a husband who is entirely at ease with the inner-workings of an automobile. Enough to spend a couple of hours outside last night cleaning and detailing underneath our hood. The "Before and After"s are pretty amazing. He's amazing :)

Accidents Happen

And sometimes they come in the form of a deer panicking and running into your braking car, you know, instead of away from it.





Happened at dusk on Friday, on my way home from a long week at work, and dagnabit, I was barely more than a mile from home. And this was my first major accident, ever. So, forseeably, I was pretty shaken up.

I'm thankful that stuff like this, as scary and unexpected as it is, is just bridge under the water in the life we live. Cliff was so calm and collected on the phone. All he kept reminding me as my thinking was broken by heaving sobs, was that I was okay. We'd be okay. Maybe, and unfortunately, I killed a deer and the car is wrecked, but I am okay. Just knowing we have insurance and an emergency fund and a car at home to share until I can get a rental made things a little bit better.

A kind stranger stood and sat with me for at least forty-five minutes before Cliff was able to get to me. And even the Williamson County Sheriffs that came by to do a police report were out-of-this world incredible.

Needless to say, I don't think the shock wore off until sometime the next morning.

I'm just grateful things turned out the way they did and not worse.

Coupla Things

1. Tonight we've got plans to talk/download/upload/debrief Haiti. Therefore, you should expect to maybe see some pictures... videos... and maybe even a blog post 'round these here parts in a matter of days.

2. I am currently running a V-day inspired contest over on my photography blog and if you're in a giving mood, you should head on over. I promise it won't require anything but a quick brainstorm and a few minutes of typing. That's it.

3. My little ol' photography website (the free one from Showit) was nominated for the Best of 2009 "Free at Last" category. The Showit team picked this round and are now leaving it in the hands of the Facebook masses. The voting is housed within a poll on Facebook... so if you're a Facebook user, you like my website, and you want to vote for it - please do. It would mean the world to me.

Okay, I think that's it...

That Whole Couponing Thing

Okay, so I'm no stranger to coupons. What I have been a stranger to is the science behind it. And the joy of making a huge dent in your total grocery bill. Enough to make you feel like Einstein and want to go to the grocery store everyday just to show off your coupon ninja skills.

A year and a half ago, when I was gainfully unemployed, I managed to make use of a nice little free subscription to the Review Appeal (a small, weekly paper here in Franklin) which housed within it an occasional coupon insert. Clip clip clip and you've got $.55 here, $1.00 there, and if you were lucky like me, you managed to have the time to shop between a couple of different grocery stores ALL of which doubled your coupons (up to $.50). I'd say on any given grocery store trip I was saving, oh, I don't know, $15-20. Small victories, but chump change in the grand scheme of what I could have been doing...

Fast forward to last year, and I hardly touched a coupon. I didn't have time. We no longer got that paper. And I just, well, I could really care less. Besides, we didn't have the space to do all those things that crazy couponers do like... breath... stockpiling.

And then somewhere along the way, probably in the last couple of months, I started thinking about all of those BOGO (that's buy one, get one) specials at Publix (where we shop, primarily because of convenience) and those crazy people who buy multiple copies of the Sunday paper and print coupons online and thought... I think they might be on to something.

See, when I was couponing before, I wasn't avid and fairly lackadaisical in my approach.

And I want to, at some level, stay that way. Not lackadaisical per say, just... calm? Casual? Because I don't want it to be something which consumes my life in a period of it where there's just not a lot of extra time. But man, how much I miss out on maximizing our monthly grocery budget and having - gasp - a surplus of food at the end of the month. One of the things I was excited about in purchasing our home was having space - in every capacity - but especially when it comes to food. Pantry, refrigerator, freezer - you name it. We've got more than we've ever had and that's the sort of thing you need if you're going to really take this whole coupon thing (relatively) seriously.

So over the last two weeks, I've taken a fairly okay stab each week at printing a few online coupons and browsing the store for deals like I used to, and getting back to that about $20 a week savings. But that $20 was only about 20% savings... and I was so nonchalant about it all I was probably spending about two hours in the whole process (so sue me, I like wandering the grocery store).

Today, I decided to focus and plan. I spent an hour doing the following: set up our new printer to print from both of the computers wirelessly (this is particularly useful for double printing), sat at my laptop with two (read that, TWO) copies of the Sunday paper and a pair of scissors, pulled the I Heart Publix site up, linked to a couple of printable coupon websites from which I printed about 10 pages worth of coupons, and browsed through the Publix insert (though I had already read about it from IHP). Then I spent 15 minutes creating a spreadsheet (because, hey, that works for me) with columns indicating the retail price (published in the insert), sale price, and coupon information (for the ones I had) for the items on my list.

Sidenote: about half of the things on my list were for a dinner I am fixing tonight for company (which isn't entirely economical, but it's going to be good and who gives) and I just gave my best estimate for what I'd spend on them. Printed this out, and there I had my shopping list.

Armed at the ready, I hit up Publix. Thirty minutes later, I had my cart full of everything on the list (and a bunch of bananas was added at the last minute because they're a staple around here, I'd forgotten to put them on the list, and they were $.10 off a pound) and was standing at the self-check kiosk. I had to see and be a part of this wonder of seeing my savings firsthand.

And wow.

If I wasn't right on the money at cutting my bill in half, I don't know where I was. Well, I mean, I do, because I was right at half. Seriously. Just an hour and forty five minutes total spent planning and executing - and I bought $88 worth of groceries for $44. No lie. I was stunned, honestly, because even when I left the house and surveyed what my spreadsheet said I would save (which was right at that amount) I didn't believe it. There was just no way. And that's just 50% and there's people out there working magic at 65-75% EVERY WEEK.

Incredible stuff.

I'm a believer.

And this is only just the beginning.

Have You Ever Wanted

To know something about us and weren't sure how or were too afraid to ask?

Ask away.

I Should Not Have Let

Neutrality be an option.

It appears most everyone is Switzerland and I'm left at an impasse myself.

So for now, we'll continue on with our regularly scheduled program.

That is. Our blog. My blog. And no in-between blog.

I think too many people like hearing from Cliff (the occasional opportunity you have to do so) to decide one way or the other. I mean, I like hearing from him too, so let's keep it this way.

Except, I don't want anymore of this "Huh, what photography blog?" stuff. I love the support you all have shown me over time and I will only continue to be successful, in part, because of it. You're a huge reason I'm doing this in the first place. If reading both makes your life more difficult (I mean, who needs one more blog to read) you should check out Google reader. If reading both seems pointless, tell me how to make it better... to make it worth it.

If we haven't told you lately... we want to hear from you.

I Am Curious to Know...

And have therefore posted a couple of polls.

Check 'em out over here ====>

FYI: Poll Terms Defined...

LLNOE = Living Like No One Else
KNP = Kristine Neeley Photography
Merger = a combining of the two
Switzerland = a symbol of neutrality

Seeing The States

Kristine's "States I've Visited"


visited 40 states (80%)
Create your own visited map of The United States

Cliff's "States I've Visited"


visited 37 states (74%)
Create your own visited map of The United States

Our "States We've Visited Together"


visited 28 states (56%)
Create your own visited map of The United States

As Cliff Mentioned

And as you all evidently already know, Christmas preparations are in full swing, and I, for one, am ecstatic about it all. Just the first couple of notes of "Silent Night" on Mix Ninety-Two Niiiiiiiiiine... and I've lost it. Don't even think about singing "I'll Be Home For Christmas" around me or you're sure to get snot in your face.

But anyways.

The tree is up.



The Christmas cards have started coming in (and ours are finally designed and ordered!)



Cliff's cube has been decorated.



All but one Christmas gift has been purchased. We've had our fare share of Hot Nogolate around the house (uh, yeah, it's hot chocolate made with egg nog and milk). The Christmas parties have begun. We've sung carols a couple of nights with different groups of people. The decorations are still finding their way into new places in our home.









Overall, we're loving everything about this season despite its hustle and bustle!