Drugged.

This video has been on youtube for 5 days and has 3 million hits already. Some of you might be able to relate. Enjoy!

traffic jam at Caribou Coffee

I have never seen it this busy at Caribou before. There about 10 people waiting ahead of me. Maybe its the 2 inches of snow covering the streets that bring the spirit out of people to hit the coffee shops

I mean... I am!

Have a great snow day everyone!
Well some of you fortunate people that read my blog are enjoying warm weather. God bless you!!!!!!!!!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Corporate Dictionary.

executive head shot
a photo of a senior exec that looks nothing like him or her because it's several years old, has been airbrushed considerably, and features him or her smiling and/or looking like a nice and approachable person.

Tires + Photography... what a combo

Last night the tire on the Saturn went terrible bad and was past the point of needed a repair. I had strict orders from Chris to drive the car directly to Bridgestone today no where else. Which meant I had to call into work and ask off. Oh well- day off!!!

Today my appointment was at 2pm. I got there early because I was uncertain if the tire was going to blow out on my way into the shop so I left a tab early. Now, its going to take them about an hour to get the new tires on the car. I didn't exactly want to sit in a tire shop surfing the internet (if they even have it) for an hour with a bunch of mechanic dudes. So the closest coffee shop was less than a mile from the shop. Walking there would take me 11 mins. So I did it. By the time I got to caribou I had snot running down my face and my eyes were filled with tears. It was bad. There is no way I'm going to walk BACK to the shop to pick up the car in 45 mins. I called Chris and he's going to pick me up. I'm such a wuss.

Just received a phone call from Chris while I was blogging this post. He has to stay late at work and now I have to walk back to the shop. NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On a lighter note, I had my night photography field trip the other night in downtown Minneapolis + downtown Anoka. I think I'm going to go back in the summer because it was pretty difficult shooting in the 30 degree + windy weather. It's kind of like walking to a tire shop. ha ha. Here are some shots that were decent.




{sorry for the awkward gap in the picture structure}

Corporate Dictionary

we’re very early on in our search.
A hedge used by any employer during a job interview that can mean: a) “I don’t like you, so I’m hoping you’ll forget about this conversation”: b) “I kind of like you, but I’m pretty sure there’s someone better out there or at least someone we won’t have to pay as much”: or c) “We’re really very early on in our search, and I know HR won’t get it together to bring someone on here in less than six months, so don’t hold your breath.”

A thought.

I need help from my blog readers on what to do. I've been building my photography 'business' and I meet potential clients at coffee shops. Now here is where I get stuck. I could see two clients in one day. That means roughly 700 calories from a small turtle mocha. I will become two ton tessy eventually. Not to mention how extremely unhealthy that is. What am I going to do? Do I just let my client order? And then what if the client doesn't order? The coffee shop will kick us out for not ordering. Dilemma! I need to figuring something soon. Two clients this coming Saturday. Ideas/suggestions???????
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

90 BIG ONES!

Grandma Furst turned 90 this weekend and last night we has a family birthday party for her. The theme "Olive Garden" but we called it the "Olive US Garden". Here are a few pics from the evening. Enjoy!

Oh and yes I was able to use my new lens. SO EXCITED!!!!










<------this was my pose for most of the evening.

Sweetness.

Like I said in the 25 THINGS ABOUT ME I bake not cook. Very different from each other. This morning I made some cupcakes for tomorrow at work. Dark chocolate + chocolate chip. YUM YUM.


Don't you just want to reach through the screen and eat one. To bad- you can't!

For your information.

I thought I'd do something that I have never participated in and that is a 25 THINGS ABOUT ME survey.
It may or may not be the most interesting thing your read today.

So here it goes....

1. This is my first 25 THINGS ABOUT ME survey. Probably my last.

2. I LOVE turtle mochas. I started drinking them when my friend Fritha made me try one in college. This obsession is completely her fault.

3. I have zero ambition to make dinner every night for my family (someday) or my husband at the moment. Is that bad? Then again we do live at my in-laws house where I am spoiled with yummy home cooked meals almost nightly. I think 'some' people are concerned that I don't cook.

4. On the flip side I love making chocolate chip cookies. I will toot my horn and say that they are mighty delicious.

5. I take a bath about 4 times a week to keep warm. It's a tad chilly in the house!

6. I am addicted to the internet. I feel like the internet is a tool for learning new things. But it also gets me in trouble because I find things to buy to easily.

7. I had my licenses suspended for 15 days and on the 15th day I went driving and was pulled over. The car was impounded.

(I'm only on #8!!!)

8. I love photography. I love the perspective it brings. I love capturing the moments as cliche as that is. If it were my full-time career I would be a very happy person.

9. I have two brothers and two sisters all in which live in different states. It makes for great vacation spot. FREE LODGING!!!!!

10. In my perfect world I would live in a old vintage cottage on a farm with 2 horses, 1 cow, 1 goat (cuz they sound funny and chris sounds funny imitating them) and 2 chickens.
11. I watch reality shows and like it; Survivor, Amazing Race, The Hills, The City, Jon + Katie Plus 8, Mermaid Girl (ha-ha), Bachelor,

12. My Top TV Shows are, Private Practice, Grey's Anatomy, and LOST.

13. I enjoy spending Sundays at BARNES + NOBLE looking at magazines and sipping on a Starbucks mocha.

14. Chris + I sleep with roughly 6 blankets on our bed and a heater blowing in the room. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

15. My favorite flower is the daisy. White and Yellow. Especially in the summer. I dream that I'm on a farm.

16. I purchase books and read about one chapter and then without fail I never finish it. NOOOOWWW... I download the first chapter on my blackberry for FREE!!! Saves A LOT of $$$

17. My blackberry is always an arms reach away. Its my life. It holds my schedule, my thoughts + ideas, books, bible, contacts, and emails. Lots of stuff. You could probably go through my phone and by the things that are in it you'd learn the most about me.

18. My DREAM summer car is a baby blue or cherry red 1970 FORD F250.

19. I wear socks to bed and mid way through the night I kick them off because I get to hot.

20. I love folk-country and country rock music.

21. I hate the taste of MILK. I haven't drank milk since 6th grade. I'm sure that my bones will break in half one day from the lack of calcium.

22. I want a BOSTON TERRIER really super bad and I know that Chris will let me have one soon! I can not wait to get the little bugger.

23. - 25. I seriously have the BEST husband ever. He loves me every second of the day. He encourages me just when I need it. He is SO MUCH FUN. He likes cool stuff like I do. He gives different perspectives to life. He has an awesome relationship with God and challenges himself in it too. He's a hard worker and goes above and beyond the request. I just love so so so sooooo much.

The end.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Introducing.

I apologize for changing my photography blog again but I just wasn't happy with the results from wordpress. So I switched back to blogspot.

check it out

13 and counting.

This scarf obsession started this fall when I purchased 3 scarfs not thinking my love for scarfs would seriously turn into 13 and be such a part of my wardrobe.
Love them, Love them all!

so here they are....















I take donations!

Simplicity.

Chris' friend shared the following challenge with him this afternoon over a cup of coffee. When Chris came home he shared it with me and I was very encouraged by it and would like to share it with you as well.

This week the topic of our discipleship group was the spiritual discipline of simplicity, "The Christian Discipline of simplicity is an inward reality that results in an outward life-style" (Foster 79). The ultimate goal of the spiritual discipline of simplicity is to make God the very center or our lives. The Bibles says, "Seek first the Kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours" (Matt 6:25-33) However, seeking Gods Kingdom first often does no happen because there are so many other things, both good and bad, that we seek before God. Simplicity seeks to eliminate those things that are pulling us away from the divine center which is Jesus and his Kingdom. "The inner reality of simplicity is not a reality until there is outward expression." (Foster 89) So having said that, listed below are some things that we can do to help simplify out lives. So that Jesus becomes our on significant master and nothing else.

-"Buy things for their usefulness rather than their status."
-"Reject anything that is producing an addition in you."
-"Develop a habit of giving things away."
-"Refuse to be propagandized by the custodians of modern gadgetry."
-"Learn to enjoy things without owning them."
-"Develop a deeper appreciation for the creation."
-"Look with a healthy skepticism at all buy now, pay latter schemes."
-"Obey Jesus' instructions about plain honest speech."
-"Reject anything that breeds the oppression of others."
-"Shun anything that distracts you from seeking first the Kingdom of God."

Be Encouraged.

Early VALENTINES!!!!

My husband is the G-R-E-A-T-E-S-T!!! Not because he buys me things{as he would say}.He came to me in the living room this evening and said, "How are you going to carry all your gear?" I said "You got it?" "Yup, it'll be here next week!" he said with the cutest smile.

So you are probably wondering what it is???????? I wish it was a Boston Terrier but we all know that will no be happening until this summer when we get our own place. The sweetest gift {at least I think so} is a Canon 50mm f/1.4!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So happy!!!

Flower [POWER]

BEFORE


AFTER

Worst Monday ever.

Are you ready for this one folks? I would have blogger yesterday night about it but....well ya know.... it was a Monday.

It's hard for me to even remember today's events it was so tragic. Started out the morning a little on the colder side. Wasn't necessarily expecting that since I was spoiled from the beautiful 40 degree weekend. So I headed to work not feeling the best dressed because I had photography class this evening and I didn't want to dress up totally but I still needed to look presentable for work during the day. I didn't pull it off so well and I was sporting about 5 zits on my chin that came in out of no were. Needless to say, I was looking cute.

Got to work and at about 10:30am I had to make a phone call to the company and the service lady was completely rude to me from the minute I said hello. She was so rude that I asked her why she was treating me so rudely and if she was having a bad day. She was NOT happy that I asked her that. Not the best way to start out my day.

Work was pretty slow and I was preping myself to get from point A (work) to point B (Edina) by 6pm this evening. I was dropping off the CD to the lady from the photo shoot the other day. From point B (Edina) I needed to get to point C (photography class) in Coon Rapids by 7pm. It was a VERY tight, iritating, dangerous travels and did I mention frustrating. I got to Edina by 5:45pm. The lady arrived at 6pm sharp and the exchange took about 5 minutes. I zipped out of the parking lot wanting to head over to Caribou coffee and grab a mocha before class. So I'm heading to Caribou and the road that I'm on is turning into a different direction and I end up somewhere in Minneapolis I have no idea where I am at. By the grace of God I actually drive right up to a Caribou Coffee (not the one I was heading to). I get my mocha and ask the cheery fella where 94 west is. He proceeds to tell me exact directions and I'm on my way. I get in my car head out to 94 and I take a sip of my coffee. GRRRROOOOSSSSSS!!!!!! Of course my coffee would be disgusting. It tasted like it had triple chocolate in it. WAY to powerful to even drink. Well whatever.... so much for a special drink at class.
I get on 94 W and call Chris to let him know that I'm on my way finally and I'll call him when I get to class. I get on 610 heading east to 47 and I think to myself, "I'm heading to 65 which is heading the wrong direction." Grrrrrrrrr. I turn around and head 610 west. I'm back on 610 west and then realize, "NO WAY, ARE YOU SERIOUS.... I was heading in the right direction. This is heading to Brooklyn Park." I felt like the biggest idiot. Like my brain wasn't even working. So irritating. I turn around once AGAIN heading 610 east to 47 and then exit to 10 west. Finanlly, going the right direction. Ahhhh.....not really. In my head I'm thinking I'm going to Oak Park View Middle School(something like that). The same place my fitness boot camp class is. I was half way down Hanson Blvd and a light bulb went off in my head telling me that this class is not at Oak Park but at Coon Rapids Middle school. NOT AGAIN. It's 7:05pm and I am just livid. That's one thing I hate and that is arriving late to a meeting. I don't want to miss the details and I wasn't in the mood to walk in late and have everyone stare at me. Just not in the mood. So I turn around and I really am heading in the right direction this time. I get to Coon Rapids High school and I am instantly overwhelmed [like I wasn't already] because every door entrance looks the same and the parking lots are packed. Great! I head around the back and just parked and ran inside. I have never seen a high school where EVERY hallway you look down looks the exact same. I think, "Great, how in the world am I suppose to find this class?" I see a guy looking at me like he wants to help so I ask him where the Photography class is and he gets this confused look on his face like "There is a Photography class at Coon Rapids High School?" Then I remember that it's not at the high school but at the middle school. WOW- I am so late. 7:15pm now. He points me in the dirrection of the middle school and I get there. I walk into class, I sit down, I made it.

Sundays update.

Who knew that buying 'white socks' would be such a pain. I wanted plain white socks for everyday . Sort of on the dressy side. No grey heals or toes. I found some at Kohl's for $12 for 6 pairs. Great! I get home and put on a pair and they are not cool. When I take my boots off my socks come off too. So irritating. So today I was at Wal-mart and found some white socks that were sport socks but didn't have grey heals. We'll have to give them a shot. For the baggy socks, I put them in the wash and hopefully that will shrink. I would have taken them back but the tags are all ripped up and Kohls can be kind of annal about items without tags. I'll just keep them.

This afternoon I'm in the process of baking peanut butter cookies. I sure do enjoy a warm peanut butter cookie with powder sugar sprinkled on top. Yum-Yum! Other than that, I got a lot done this afternoon since Chris occupied the computer with his recording. Amazing what you can get done when a computer is not in your life. Laundry, errands ran, cleaning, baking, more cleaning, planning..... But now he is off the computer. So I'm done with getting things done.

Oh and today is Superbowl Sunday and that has totally went over my head. I'll probably watch it at half-time. Otherwise, probably a movie and fire!!!!


Happy Sunday! Spring is coming!

A 40-Year Old Wish List

You won't believe what's in that stimulus bill.

"Never let a serious crisis go to waste. What I mean by that is it's an opportunity to do things you couldn't do before."

So said White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel in November, and Democrats in Congress are certainly taking his advice to heart. The 647-page, $825 billion House legislation is being sold as an economic "stimulus," but now that Democrats have finally released the details we understand Rahm's point much better. This is a political wonder that manages to spend money on just about every pent-up Democratic proposal of the last 40 years.

We've looked it over, and even we can't quite believe it. There's $1 billion for Amtrak, the federal railroad that hasn't turned a profit in 40 years; $2 billion for child-care subsidies; $50 million for that great engine of job creation, the National Endowment for the Arts; $400 million for global-warming research and another $2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects. There's even $650 million on top of the billions already doled out to pay for digital TV conversion coupons.

In selling the plan, President Obama has said this bill will make "dramatic investments to revive our flagging economy." Well, you be the judge. Some $30 billion, or less than 5% of the spending in the bill, is for fixing bridges or other highway projects. There's another $40 billion for broadband and electric grid development, airports and clean water projects that are arguably worthwhile priorities.

Add the roughly $20 billion for business tax cuts, and by our estimate only $90 billion out of $825 billion, or about 12 cents of every $1, is for something that can plausibly be considered a growth stimulus. And even many of these projects aren't likely to help the economy immediately. As Peter Orszag, the President's new budget director, told Congress a year ago, "even those [public works] that are 'on the shelf' generally cannot be undertaken quickly enough to provide timely stimulus to the economy."

Most of the rest of this project spending will go to such things as renewable energy funding ($8 billion) or mass transit ($6 billion) that have a low or negative return on investment. Most urban transit systems are so badly managed that their fares cover less than half of their costs. However, the people who operate these systems belong to public-employee unions that are campaign contributors to . . . guess which party?

Here's another lu-lu: Congress wants to spend $600 million more for the federal government to buy new cars. Uncle Sam already spends $3 billion a year on its fleet of 600,000 vehicles. Congress also wants to spend $7 billion for modernizing federal buildings and facilities. The Smithsonian is targeted to receive $150 million; we love the Smithsonian, too, but this is a job creator?

Another "stimulus" secret is that some $252 billion is for income-transfer payments -- that is, not investments that arguably help everyone, but cash or benefits to individuals for doing nothing at all. There's $81 billion for Medicaid, $36 billion for expanded unemployment benefits, $20 billion for food stamps, and $83 billion for the earned income credit for people who don't pay income tax. While some of that may be justified to help poorer Americans ride out the recession, they aren't job creators.

Oh, and don't forget education, which would get $66 billion more. That's more than the entire Education Department spent a mere 10 years ago and is on top of the doubling under President Bush. Some $6 billion of this will subsidize university building projects. If you think the intention here is to help kids learn, the House declares on page 257 that "No recipient . . . shall use such funds to provide financial assistance to students to attend private elementary or secondary schools." Horrors: Some money might go to nonunion teachers.

The larger fiscal issue here is whether this spending bonanza will become part of the annual "budget baseline" that Congress uses as the new floor when calculating how much to increase spending the following year, and into the future. Democrats insist that it will not. But it's hard -- no, impossible -- to believe that Congress will cut spending next year on any of these programs from their new, higher levels. The likelihood is that this allegedly emergency spending will become a permanent addition to federal outlays -- increasing pressure for tax increases in the bargain. Any Blue Dog Democrat who votes for this ought to turn in his "deficit hawk" credentials.

This is supposed to be a new era of bipartisanship, but this bill was written based on the wish list of every living -- or dead -- Democratic interest group. As Speaker Nancy Pelosi put it, "We won the election. We wrote the bill." So they did. Republicans should let them take all of the credit.

House slides across White Bear Lake

check out the video clip.

Addicted.

I'll be honest with ya'll. I don't read the bible much. Bad girl, I know. Weeks ago I invested [some think not] in a blackberry 8830. Best thing ever. Some call it a crackberry. I bet you are thinking, "What does this have to do with the bible?" Keep reading... I have downloaded the bible to my blackberry. That is also the best thing ever. If you are interested you can download it for free! We are a very technology oriented society these days. It's kind of sad that in order to get me to read the bible it has to be on my phone. Hey, whatever works - right!

Another download is mobipocket. This application is your personal Barnes and Noble. Read books where ever you are. So awesome!

Enjoy your new features.

Photo shoot.

I stepped off my merry-go-round (as Travis says) the other night. Not to be misinterpreted with "falling off my rocker". I stepped forward with the nerves running wild and did my first photo shoot. Thank you to everyone for praying and thinking of me. Before the shoot I stuffed my mouth with a huge wad of sweeter, fruitier, fabulous citrus mint gum to claim the nerves. Seemed to help.=)

The lady was super cool and the kids were great. Here are a few of my favs from the shoot. It was a GREAT learning experience and I was able to use my Canon Speedlite 580EXII for the first time. A little yellow in the lighting but we'll work that out on the next shoot. The biggest thing was that I learned a ton.

A few of my favorite things... at the moment.

Rent-a-kitty.

He is the best kitty model ever. I will rent him out if you need him in photo. He is very accommidating and will pose however you'd like him. You know where to reach me. =) He is booking fast!