5 words...

Your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to give me 5 words that you think describe me.

GO!

;-)

Ok, Mike and I are in the process of doing some brainstorming about Heartland Photography, and part of what we need to do is define WHO we are, and then who Heartland is.

SO....what are words you think of when you hear "Karen Mikols"? And also, what words would you use to describe my photography?

Thanks for leaving a comment to help us out!

ps-there will be some EXCELLENT, picture-filled posts coming about my cat (since I realize some of you haven't seen much of Esse), and some wild self-portraits I gathered for a friend, and thought I'd share. So, stay tuned late next week for those!

Love-hate relationship

This should probably more accurately be called hate-love relationship .... no, not with my cat ... with the pile of tax forms/papers she's sleeping in!


I've simly GOT to get more organized. Basically, my current method is to throw everything in a folder and not think about it until mid-January. I usually get uber stressed out and massively cranky, which no one appreciates.

Currently, I'm LUSTING after the Quick Books Pro program. I'm told it will simplify my life, but I simply have not had the TIME to order it/install it/learn it. UGH!

I can't wait until Heartland grows enough and I can just OUTSOURCE this!!!!!!

Bone Marrow donation

I've been wanting to write about my bone marrow donation for a long time, but haven't had any reason to get my rear end into gear. Until this week. My co-worker, Kaley, was writing about an upcoming marrow donor drive. So ... I slowly shifted into gear and put my thoughts together for the Hays Daily News.

The column can be viewed online here.

More information regarding bone marrow donation on the National Marrow Donor Program Web site.

# 60 — Paint a room in my house (Bye, Bye Beige!!!!!)

.... CHECK!

... well, this isn't *technically* my house, but in September, it will be OUR house, so I'm checking this off of my 101 in 1001 list.

I know some of you have been anxioux to see this .... so settle in because this will be a LONG post (think: play by play).

Wow, I'm not even sure where to begin. I should first confess that I came up with "the black book" for Erik's house. Yup, projects I'd like to see done ... in an orderly, organized, fashion (I DID leave room for Erik to add projects, so don't go feeling sorry for him quite yet!).

This was a room I've been thinking about for a long time. I think the first time I mentioned it, I suggested painting only the top, but it evolved to painting the wainscotting white as well (who wants to look at only 1/2 of a newly painted room?).

Oh, and the chocolate brown color .... where the heck did I come up with it? Well, my college roomie, Jeanel, painted a bathroom brown once and I LOVED it! When I was thinking about this space, that color came to mind and I knew it'd be perfect! Bold, but not overbearing.

Here's the before photos:






When we took the mirror off the wall, we discovered that there was a medicine cabinet in the wall. Erik didn't even know it was there!


Some hardware was rolling around loose in the wall...


There was a hole in the wall that I patched before painting (did I mention I've never patched wall holes before???)


Before I embarked on this adventure, I did plenty of reading up. In my reading, I was told to wash the walls before painting them. Um, the only problem was that I balanced the bucket of water atop the toilet .... and the following flood resulted :-(


This is me thinking my painting adventure is over before it even begins.


And THIS is where the water from the bathroom ended up. EEK!!!! I REALLY thought my painting career was over at that point!


Before I began painting, I took stock and figured out what I DIDN'T want to do. The previous painter was SLOPPY and I wanted to avoid the following:


Then, I taped up the place ... I liiiiiike blue tape!



THEN it was time to make a final decision from all the paint chips! Yikes! Did you know there were SO MANY shades of brown?


Robin suggested we take off the tank only of the toilet ... which Erik helped us with. Thanks, sweetie!


We then got to work priming the top half of the walls. Since we were painting the walls a dark color, the paint store tinted the primer for us!


Robin LOVED the foam rollers. The reading I did suggested the foam over the other common rollers because it wouldn't leave lint on the walls. Heck, I'm convinced now to use foam for the regular painting, too! No bristles in the paint!



This is the first area I painted .... looked a little dark, but it dried beautifully!



Robin pondering my handiwork. (I think she was skeptical of the color at first, but it grew on her!)


In all my excitement, I was too hasty to put blue tape up, so I had to go back and retouch a bunch ... lesson learned for next time!


And Boulevard Wheat, my official sponsor of painting! ;-)


BE PATIENT!!!!!! We're in the homestretch now. I promise!

After the painting, it was time to put back the light fixture ... only I couldn't bear to put the gold fixture in the beautiful, brown bathroom. So Erik selected a new one that looks MUCH better!


We even hooked it up with energy efficient bulbs! Go us!


(Did I mention this was my first electrical project EVER????)

While I was putting in the new fixture, I decided to put in new outlets. Why not? Right? ;-) I took them out carefully (BTW, we killed the power for this ENTIRE project, to be SAFE!), then looked and unscrewed only one part and put it on the new one. I did it this way so I wouldn't confuse or cross any wires.


I have to admit I was REALLY nervous about everything working. I was SOOOOO nervous when I flipped the breaker, but amazingly IT ALL WORKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!


The mirror is even up! The only piece left is the vent (I still need to paint it) and the closet door (need to paint that, too!). Other than that, the bathroom just needs a new shower curtain and rug! Then we're good to go!


The last piece was a new shower toy .... but I haven't been able to test out the new awesome stream of water because there is no hot water in the front shower :-(.



Thanks for reading all the way down!!!!!!!!

Be sure to leave a comment if you made it down this far, especially about the brown color! :-)

On Anne Ruthmann's blog!

YESSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I made it on to Anne Ruthmann's blog. I'm a winner! ;-) (Hi, Anne! Because I know our cyber ninjas have told you I linked to you on my blog!)

And check out how awesome my Shoot Sac looks!!!! My sister, Robin, and brother, Paul, got me the awesome Baroque cover for Christmas and I LOVE it!!!! (Hint: if you're looking for a good gift for me, slide over to the Shoot Sac Web site ... almost any cover will do! They also have gift certificates!)

Now that I've made an appearance on Anne's blog, I believe my life is quite complete. Shucks, I should have had that as a goal for 101 in 1001. Hmm.....

Jamaica, here we come (in December....)

With 7 miles of beaches, swimming abounding, and rum flowing like milk and honey, I'm ready to head off for our honeymoon RIGHT NOW!!!!! (We're going to Sandals in Negril, Jamacia)

After a great talk with Mike about Jamacia and the stress of wedding planning, he quipped "so, are you ready to take that honeymoon rightnow?" Uh....YES!!!!!!

Due to the chaotic nature of sports season, Erik and I won't take our honeymoon immediately after the wedding in September. We'll go in December, which means I'll have a tan during Christmas!!!! ;-)

The palm trees are what really sold us on Negril .... check them OUT!




We'll stay in a "Honeymoon Grande Luxe Beachfront Concierge Room" — whatever that means ... I think that means we'll get breakfast in bed and not have to leave the room for champagne!!!! ;-) (photo below)


With such luxury awaiting me .... it's difficult to wait until December, but I"m actually quite glad we're not leaving immediately after the wedding (because our flight out is at 8:30 a.m.!!!!! That's crazy talk!!!!)

WWFS?

(Photo by David Jay)

Ok, so "What would Freud say" about my dreams?

I have admittedly been through the wedding planning process before, but have NEVER had wedding dreams in my LIFE until the last month or so. Early Thursday morning, I had my second wedding-related dream.

Erik's friends tell me they've had them before and that it's not uncommon, but I'm feeling wierd about them .... is this normal??? Especially since the wedding is about 7 months away!

So, my first dream was shortly after Robin's wedding. In the dream, Erik and I had to hurridly move our date up to shortly after Robin's wedding (don't ask me why because I have NO CLUE!). We were rushing around and trying to get things sorted out .... and that's all I really remember now (hey, gimme a break, it's been almost 2 months since THAT dream).

Fast forward to early Thursday morning. My dream involved Erik and I having a destination wedding. Hmmm....sunny, warm beaches instead of this frigid mess of Kansas? Yes, please!


(Photo by David Jay)

Anyhow, we were having the ceremony, but our photographer, Heather, showed up just in the nick of time (I KNOW she'll be on time with bells on her toes to the wedding in September, so I'm not worried). Then, we tried to get group photos done, but didn't get through them before the ceremony, and we couldn't get them done afterwards for some reason.

THEN I saw a breathtaking sunset and wanted something beautiful and artsitic with Erik, me and the sunset. The problem? There was no photographer to be found! EEK!!!!!! (REMEMBER: this is ONLY a dream!). At that point, I grabbed my camera and was trying to set up a photo with Erik and the sunset, then run into the frame while the camera was on a timer. Strange, I know. In the dream, it didn't work.

How strange is that????

Ok, so share YOUR crazy wedding dreams!!! (Please, someone tell me I'm not the only one having these!).

# 68 — Eat authentic sushi

.... CHECK!

Ok, so this is the first item I'm blogging about from my 101 in 1001 list. I have a few more that are checked off, but don't have photos ready to go, and since I'm a photogrpaher .... I just won't share them without photos! ;-)

The sushi eating commenced after the fabulous Flourish Workshop in Louisville, Ky.

I didn't fly out until the day after the workshop was over, so on Jan. 23, we headed to Sapporo . I was with some sushi veterans, such as Angela, Kim, Kitty and Meredith.

Meredith helped me navigate the menu and suggested the California roll. But that wasn't my first piece of sushi.

I'd like to introduce you to the eel.

Meredith documented my first bite of sushi ... and at this point, I was trying to come up with excuses to NOT eat the eel, but couldn't come up with any...


...so I took my first bite...


... and meditated on the experience a bit. ;-)


Overall, it was a positive experience. I don't think I'll start frequenting sushi bars by myself any time soon, but I'm certainly willing to eat some more if and when the opportunity presents itself.

Groom's Cake

As far as a "groom's cake" .... I strongly suspected Erik would want a MU or Royals or Chiefs cake. He, however, surprised me and said he didn't see much of a point. Fine with me ... the above is the most regal looking groom's cake I've seen ... and below are some wild ones!


This one is pretty cute .... but I'm sure grooms would prefer for us to not refer to a groom's cake as "cute." That's not a very manly word to describe a "man's cake." ;-)~


And a creative one for sports fans (ERIK!)




I know a few people who would get excited about a "dead deer" for a groom's cake...



One person who I know would like the deer cake *might* also like this one....



Um, can *I* have one of THESE Harley-Davidson cakes, please?????


Ok, so this is for my Florida friends, but I also thought it was pretty cool .... I'm not sure how I'd feel about eating green icing, though!


And THIS one is fantastic! It reminds me of Steel Magnolias when they're talking about the Armadillo Groom's Cake ... talking about how difficult it would be to makie grey icing, especially with blood red velvet cake! HA!


Standard fish cake:


Hmm...I wonder if they could make a Boulevard Wheat or Blue Moon cake...


AND I was saving the BEST for last! This one CRACKS me up (pun fully intended!)