Not quite a buddha

My friend Kerri is having her baby on the 9th. We used yesterday evening (between all of the storms we've been having) to take some pictures of her belly and her first "baby" Chet. I think they turned out pretty well. Thanks Kerri!! Good luck to everyone on Monday...can't wait to meet her!

Almost forgot about...

My new laptop bag...so fabulous!

I am honestly sooo excited about it. My laptop fits perfectly along with files, magazines, etc. It will be fantastic with my red luggage too and doesn't look a thing like your typical laptop bag! Thank you Kara at Kailo Chic! Now i'm walkin' around in style!

Adorable things

I am a sucker for all things adorable!! So today I bought these. They are magnets and so cute from etsy.com (The Purple Pear). The multi-colored ones are for moi and the others for my MIL. I think she'll dig them!

Not much else happening here, Ryan and Dad were in KC last night where there were tornados all over the place...Ryan called while sirens were going off. Talk about making me nervous! But he's called this a.m. and things are fine, minus the headache he has from too much imbibing! :)

Hopefully more as my job gets less crazy week after next...two weeks from now i'll just be getting home from New Orleans with another conference behind me. Whew!

New jeans in my future

Why is the perfect pair of jeans so elusive? Why do they fit on my thighs but leave a gap at my waist large enough to hold a lumbar pillow? Can't anyone figure out that my legs are actually quite long for my height? And why does every pair I like the looks of have a 6 inch rise? I'm not 16 anymore people!! Frustration! Hopefully i've found the answer to these questions...check out http://www.zafu.com/. Supposedly this site will help you "Find your perfect jeans, bras & pants in 3 minutes." This is fantastic because 3 minutes is about all the time I have to spare. I entered my proportion "issues" and luckily the site rounded up 18 pair of jeans, at least 4 of which can be found here at home at a Nebraska-based store called The Buckle. It looks like the brand BKE is what will work best for me and either the Harlow or Culture styles. Are you kidding me? 3 minutes to figure out which jeans to buy, 10 minutes to get to the store that they're sold in, another 10-15 to try them on...I honestly can't wait. If all it takes is 28 minutes to find the perfect pair of jeans, I am pumped!! I will report back to let you (and zafu) know if this actually worked!! Oh yeah, and the best part...$66-$68! No $200 pair of jeans for me...working wife with two kids, a husband and a
mortgage!! Wish me luck!

Learning with Smilebox

Today I started playing with Smilebox. It's a great way to make cute scrapbook-looking layouts of photos you want to do something creative with.

(Note: Took down this slideshow momentarily. It gave out my full name which i'm not comfy with. If you want to see it, send me an email and i'll forward you the link!)

Exciting new websites to check out...

I was looking around for some free fonts for my newest foray into scrapbooking and came upon this site:
http://www.kevinandamanda.com/
Amanda does a GREAT job of providing handwriting fonts (complete with instructions if you should need them). Their site is fantastic and they are just an adorable couple.

Also loving the BHG scrapbooks etc. site:
http://www.bhgscrapbooksetc.com/

I plan on getting to Michaels this weekend for some scrapbook supplies as I don't own one scrapbook yet. Shame on me!

Tomorrow will be attending my niece Haley's dance showcase. I will tote along my camera and see if I can get backstage for some photos of the "Divas!"

Blessings for a great weekend!

The long, cold winter

Winter has been long and very cold and it's only nearing the end of January. I have had some good days this month despite the cruddy weather. I got a chance to take some really cute pictures of my boys, including Owen's new tooth! Look out world...he's chomping on everything! Last week I also had a chance to hang out with some good friends, Pat and Sheri. Heard good news from Sheri that she's moving back home so hopefully i'll be seeing much more of her. That is always good news! I'm also doing fairly well on my weight loss endeavors. Bye bye baby fat, hello cute spring clothes! Down 2.7 pounds towards my goal of 5 pounds this month. I even got on the treadmill a couple of times thanks to

the SWEET new iPod from my hubby for Christmas.

I almost forgot that Max had his first dentist appointment two weeks ago. He did fantastic and has no cavities! All of that wrestling him so he can get brushed was worth it!

Right now i'm learning how to use Elements. I took some family photographs of some friends of ours in November and managed to get them edited and printed this month. I even created an invoice for my "business." When she pays me this will be my first paying photography session. I plan on framing my first $1. Very exciting!!