Things to love about fall ...

Oh, fall is here!!!!! It's HEEEEREEE!!!!!

Things I love about fall:


• Liberating flannel PJs from the dresser. It's like bastille day, for REAL.

• Later sunrises. Silly, right? But we've got one window in the bedroom that just love the morning sun. And now it loves it later in the morning. :)


• FOOTBALL WEATHER. Oh how I love it! This means sweaters, hoodies and jeans.


• The world series. No, not THAT world series. THE WORLD SERIES OF POKER!!!!!! How I miss my poker buddies from Hays. And I have the most enormous crush on Norman Chad, ESPN commentator. I seriously look forward to Tuesday nights this time of year. This is the only time of year you'll see me willingly turn on ESPN, and with GUSTO! :) Norman Chad, if you're reading this, you may have all of my children. NO JOKE!!!!

• Al fresco dining. The flies have almost died out enough to really enjoy outdoor dining. Oh YIPPIE!!!!

Photo tip #4

Sometimes, you're at a place where the flash wants to fire. And sometimes it SHOULD fire. But these stations had plexiglass on the front of them .... so if I stand straight on and use the flash, there will be a glare.

What to do?

Today's photo tip: If you're using a flash with a reflective surface, stand a bit off to the side, so when your flash fires, you won't get the crazy glare and see the light reflected back at you in the mirror/shiny surface.

"New" bedside tables!

In Erik's bachelor days, he picked up these bedside tables. From some hotel that was getting rid of a bunch of stuff. Needless to say, they are HEAVY.

There is a picture in my head of what I wanted to find for the space. I've been poking a bit, but finally found them last week at a secondhand store! I think finding previously owned furniture counts as recycling. ;)

They don't "match" in the traditional sense, but their legs have the same curve, so it's close enough.

One of the things I love most about these tables is that you can see through the legs. The previous ones were boxy and obtrusive. Couldn't see much through them. Just really ate up visual space. I know it's a tiny change, but somehow I feel like we have more space, even if it's an optical illusion!


I want to paint them. And initially I thought white. But then I thought: CANARY YELLOW!!!!! And then I swung back to thinking yellow would not go well with our more bold blue walls. Sheesh!

Now I'm swinging back to painting them white, but maybe paint the drawers yellow?

There isn't yellow in the bedroom yet, but I'd like to make it my "accent" color. We've got the blue, and then the black and white, but I'd like another pop, and I think a bright yellow (think: Big Bird) would be nice.

At some point, I'd love to work on a seating in area in our bedroom and I have my eye on a few options:


This would bring in some more yellow!


This would continue the B&W theme.

I can't decide which I like best, but it's a ways off.

The stork visited our house! ;)

A few weeks ago, my friend Mary came to visit and attend a Theology of the Body conference with me.

I heard a knock at the front door, and went upstairs to find this on our front porch: A baby! AHA! The stork came, I thought. This whole having a baby thing is pretty easy. ;)

Turns out Mary was at the side door seeing if it was unlocked.

In 1 week, we had 2 babies stay with us. Good times! :)

Nephew Theo's first out of town/overnight sleepover!

On Labor Day, my fam was up to just chill with us. This included Baby Theo! We were honored that Theo's first out of town/overnighter was to our house.

As you can see, Esse didn't give one flop about the baby.


Uncle E helping work out a burp.


Theo's awfully snuggly!


One thing my sister and I agree on is that kid/baby JUNK can take over a person's house and life. She didn't feel compelled to pack a bed for Theo. And why should she? We have a drawer which he fit into perfectly! (one made by my father in law, I might add).


This was as close as Esse got to Theo on her own. She really didn't care, which was a surprise to me. But I wonder if so many people weren't over if she might have been more curious.


After Theo left, though, she didn't waste time in making herself at home in his bed.

Another way to use homemade yogurt!

Oh heavens ... pull up a chair because this is GOOD!

Those of you who know me know I love. Mashed potatoes. Luuuurve them. I'm an unofficial connoisseur of them.

So last week, I was making mashed potatoes in a bit of a hurry. I didn't even have time to mash garlic to put in them. When it came time to mix them, instead of using milk, I used homemade yogurt. This batch was a bit tangy, so it really punched the flavor up!

Add in some garlic salt and life can't get any better. I promise.

I know some people who use cream cheese, and this stuff is much easier to stir in, and when you put the blender in, out comes creamy goodness!

Cheers.

I never thought I'd ...

Be a wedding/portrait photographer.

Truly!

Buy why am I sharing this? I've been toying around with an essay for Real Simple's Life Lessons Essay Contest.

I'm not sure I'll enter it, but it's been good to reflect about where I've come from and where I'm going.

Heck, there are a plethora of things I could probably write about.

I never thought I'd ....

• enjoy home demolition/remodel so much
• become a reporter
• marry someone who worked in the field of journaslim
• finish college in 3 years
• live in my current city

I'm sure I could think of more, but I'm a bit tired.

So .... what about YOU ... what did you never think you'd do?

In case you missed it ...

Just in case you're not following the Heartland Blog, this is my favorite photo as of late. :)

Crazy lady picture

Remember THIS blog post? About how my feet hated me?

I've decided to share the picture.

I hope I didn't over-hype it.


In an ideal world, there would be no cars there, but I've yet to be elected supreme dictator of the planet, so I have to make due with life as it is. ;)

I think what I like most about this photo is the stillness. During the day, this place is all a-bustle with people/traffic. And at night, it's so silent and peaceful. It was after sunset, and there wasn't much light, so I hand-held this and was still able to get some nice color saturation!

You don't have to like my picture. Beauty is different to everyone. :)

Random DC

I think this was the church I attended in DC. It was way beautiful.