Week Three.

3 : 52. - My eight month old puppy, Bella, has now out grown her very first collar I bought her. She was giving a new, larger, collar for Christmas and will probably use it all the way into her adulthood.

Weekend Getaway.

This past weekend we made the trek up to Kansas to spend time with Mr. V's extended family. Also his Grandparents were celebrating their 60th Wedding Anniversary and they invited us to celebrate along with them. Saturday morning we woke up at the crack of dawn so that we could make it in time to drop off Bella at my Aunt's house. Anytime that Bella has to ride in the car it's always an event and of course this time was no different. We ended up stopping in the freezing cold to take care of a sick puppy, poor thing, and then realized we had left our coats at home and had to backtrack to the house and get them. We finally made it to my Aunt's house and let Bella and Zeke, their dog, get acquainted. After we saw that they would have no problem getting along we tried to coax Bella into her crate since my Aunt was leaving as well to go car shopping. Of course she was being timid and shy and would not come near her crate or the pepporoni my Aunt tried to lure her in with. So I picked her up, spoiled brat, and felt her claws did into my skin. While trying to put her into her crate her claws scrapped across my skin leaving two long red marks. Her nails need to be cut badly but no one will cut them for us because she causes such a ruckus about it. Anyway, we say our goodbye's and leave for Mr. V's house but decide that we want breakfast first and make a stop at Denny's. After warming up and our bellies were full we ventured out into the cold again to his Mom's house. Apparently his Mom stayed up until six in the morning finishing her Mom and Dad's scrapbook of their lives/kids/wedding, etc. so she was not fully awake when we arrived but happy to see us none the less. Since Mr. V's little sister was not able to make the trip with us, she had other plans, we waited for her friends to arrive and then piled into the car and headed towards Kansas. Thank goodness I brought my book with me or I would have been extremely bored. We ended up stopping at Taco Mayo for lunch, a tradition with his family when driving to Kansas, and had a Choco Taco. Which is a taco like shell, think ice cream cone shell, with Vanilla ice cream on the inside with fudge and chocolate on the outside, probably sounds disgusting but it was rather tasty. The weather report we had read the night before said it was snowing then and we were hoping to see some remaining snow but I guess it all melted before we got there. And I don't think I will ever complain about it being cold here again since the temperature the entire weekend was in the 20's and below along with freezing wind. We ended up staying with Mr. V's Aunt and Uncle is their gorgeous brand new home. It smelt like cinnamon when we first walked in and we immediately called dibs on the basement bedroom. I'm pretty sure their basement is as big as our entire house. I hope that when Mr. V and I are older that we can have a beautiful home like theirs. We ordered pizza and sat around catching up and waiting for his Grandparents to arrive. Of course as soon as his Grandma gets there she just has to sit on the couch by me and asks how the beautiful bride is doing. Do you see now why I love his family so much? After dinner we sat around and talked some more mostly about his Grandparents and their lives and how they meet. They both have had such a fascinating life that I really enjoyed hearing about everything they had to say. After a while the conversation died down and the grandparents left and everyone seemed to be exhausted. We headed our separate ways into each of our bedrooms and I'm pretty sure as soon as my head hit the pillow I was asleep.


On Sunday we all met, all the "kids" and grandparents, for brunch and had a lovely time together. Mr. V's Uncle, the doctor, ended up having his desert brought out to him before his meal, a "Blondie", which I have never seen someone do before. We ate and talked and laughed and Mr. V and I split a dessert which was decadent and delicious. After brunch we headed over to the reception hall to set up for their Anniversary Party. The decorations included photos from when the couple was younger and little tidbits on their lives as well as their wedding license and a small book from the wedding its self. There were also two bride and groom bears, a ballon with "Happy Anniversary" on it, a lovely white lace Guestbook. Mr. V's Aunt brought a beautiful vanilla sheet cake with white frosting and light purple flowers and hearts to serve to the guests. The first guests started to arrive and the Grandparents had still not made it to their own party. I suppose that's where Mr. V gets his lack of promptness that he blames on me from time to time. I was amazed at the turnout, at least fifty people showed up, and how many gifts and cards there were. Seeing them together you can still see the sparks in their eyes and the undying love that they have for one another it was truly inspiring. After things had died down we took photos of the family and the Grandkids that came plus me. We tided the place up, helped carry gifts to their car, and said our goodbyes. After grabbing our luggage we started our trek home minus one. Mr. V's younger brother decided to fly home with his Uncle instead of riding with us back. You see his Uncle is a Pastor and a friend of his flew him into Kansas and home as a personal favor. Fancy, eh? This time the trip felt like it took much longer then the ride to Kansas but that might be because I was unable to read my book, because I don't have a book light, and past time quickly. Although I did have Mr. V's Zune to keep me somewhat entertained with episodes of 30 Rock and The Office. We ended up making it into town around 11:00 that evening, I fell asleep for about a hour in the backseat, and we headed straight to my Aunt's to pick up Bella. Around one in the morning we arrived to our house, finally, only to get six hours of sleep and be up bright and early for work the next morning. It was nice being able to see his family and celebrate with his Grandparents, but it sure made for a tiring weekend, but hopefully next time we visit we will not be in such a time crunch.

Week Two.

2 : 52. - Temperatures dropped below freezing the night before and combined with freezing rain and sleet we had a nice little ice storm for a couple of days.

Week One.

1 : 52. - Pillars of the Earth is not the type of book I would normally read but there is just something about it that is fascinating. I read almost every night and there are times when I'm falling asleep but still trying to read because I want to finish just one more chapter.

Day Three Hundred & Sixty-Six. - Project 365.

Day Three Hundred & Sixty-Six. - Letting Go. - Apparently 2008 was a leap year hence the reason I'm uploading just one more. Although this shoot was fun, Mr. V helped me, it did not turn out the way I planned it at all. Since I'm finished with my Project 365 for this year I wanted to do a picture of me running through the finish line so to speak. And since it's winter of course I'd be running in sweats and long sleeves. I also wanted to have 'Project 365' on my back in Pink and Blue, since I upload on Flickr, but I couldn't figure out how to do that either so it didn't happen. So, here, I am with this shot and I feel like it's not as good as it could of been since this is the end of my Project I wanted to go out with a bang. I think the title "Letting Go" is perfect for the pose of this photo. But what am I letting go of? Project 365? 2008? Worry/Stress? 2008 as an amazing year for me, I got married, bought a house, got a brand new car, and a adorable little puppy. 2009 has some big shoes to fill but I am excited to see where this year brings me. As far as Project 365 goes I'm not sure if I want to start it up again since we are in two weeks to the new year, but I might. Of course I'll always be taking photos and finding ways to improve my skills. Maybe that will be the goal of my new Project when I start one. I know that throughout the year it started to get really hard trying to come up with creative, new, things to take photos of but I somehow managed to pull it off. I really enjoyed this and I'm proud of a lot of my photos and glad that I had people actually looking at my photos. So here's to Project 365 and 2008, only time will tell what happens next!

Day Three Hundred & Sixty-Five. - Project 365.

Day Three Hundred & Sixty-Five. - Шляпа. - In Russian that means "Hat". When Mr. V was about thirteen or fourteen he travled to Russia with his youth group. I got to see all the photos he took while he was there and all the money and coins he brought back with him. He also brought back this Military Style hat back with him and a number of pins that he stuck on the hat. Even though I have no idea what any of it says it was really interesting to be able to see what thinks look like over there. One of these days I would love to be able to have the chance to travel and who knows maybe we will be able to go to Russia and he can show me around.

If I only had a brain..

Then I would have known that I'm not on Days Two Hundred but that I'm on Days Three Hundred. I apologize for anyone who has been reading for the past couple of weeks, I'm sure you have been confused. I feel a bit silly but I am blaming it on the Holidays, Stress and lack of sleep. Yep, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. I've now edited all the entries so that they are in order. I'm glad I caught it considering today is my 365th day and tomorrow will be my last day of this Project. I'm not sure how I feel about starting a new Project two weeks into a New Year so we will see if I start it again or not.

Anyway, just wanted to clear up the confusion and bring light to my mistake.

Day Three Hundred & Sixty-Four. - Project 365.

Day Three Hundred & Sixty-Four. - A Boy's Thoughts. - From the visit with Mr. V's Mom he brought home two containers full of things from his childhood that we will now be storing at our home. This is Mr. V's journal from when he was a little boy. Is hand writing has not improved over the years and I had trouble reading most of what he wrote. It was fun to read the few pages that he wrote and know what he was like as a kid!

Day Three Hundred & Sixty-Three. - Project 365.

Day Three Hundred & Sixty-Three. - Beautiful Country. - Mr. V and I visted his Uncle's church this Sunday to see the family since we haven't been down there in a while and haven't seen his Uncle since the wedding. I also got to meet a lot of people that Mr. V grew up with and they were all so friendly and nice. After the church service ended we went to lunch with his Mom, sister and brother and then headed over to their house. I ended up falling asleep and stayed asleep the entire time we were there, about a hour and a half. After that we started to head home and I was going to take a shot of the river as we passed by because it has these huge trees poking out of the water but we ended up taking a wrong turn and found ourselves back at the freeway. Instead of just going home we found a dirt road and I stopped to snap a few photos before we made our way home. It was an adventure and I think the shot turned out pretty good!

Day Three Hundred & Sixty-Two. - Project 365.

Day Three Hundred & Sixty-Two. - Three Month Wedding Anniversary. - I promise this looked, and tasted, a lot better IRL then it does in photos. For our three months I decided to make Mr. V some grilled chicken with bacon bits on top and used bqq sauce on top of it all. I also make some broccoli and carrots since those are his favorite vegetables. We actually cooked dinner together while listening to Barry White and Margivn Gaye, romantic! I also ended up baking some Chocolate Mousse Brownies for desert that turned out to be delicious! This truly surpassed any of our previous anniversaries, not to say they weren't amazing in there own way, because I did something from the heart instead of having to find the perfect gift in-store.

Day Three Hundred & Sixty-One. - Project 365.

Day Three Hundred & Sixty-One. - Writing Sample. - On Flickr I was tagged by Jaclyn Michele to do a writing sample. Even though I've always hated my hand writing I thought it would be a fun thing to do. As you can see I had no pretty crayons or colored pencils, or even pens, but I did my best with my handy black pen. And I would say I did this quickly and only once but that is not the case. I used at least four pieces of paper and finally settled on this, wasteful I know, because to me my handwriting just isn't that pretty. And girls are suppose to have nice handwriting, right?

Day Three Hundred & Sixty. - Project 365.

Day Three Hundred & Sixty. - Big Boy Toy. - While we were waiting for my car to get it's oil changed we walked over to the motorcycle shop since it was a beautiful, sunny, day. Mr. V had a bike before we got together and on the week we had met he had sold it, actually, and ever since the I've heard him saying that he wants another bike. For me, I think bike's are dangerous and I would never ride on the back of one. I'm not a dare devil like that. Some would even call me too catious. I do love the way bikes look and sound, though, I just don't feel safe while riding one. I'm sure, eventually, Mr. V will find his dream bike and I will have to be a good, supportive, wife and let him make the big purchase!

Day Three Hundred & Fifty-Nine. - Project 365.

Day Three Hundred & Fifty-Nine. - I hear the train a comin'. - I was telling Mr. V that it's a shame that we live so close to a train track but I've never gotten a photo of the train. So on my way home from work I heard the train whistle blowing and decided to snap a photo of the train. At a stoplight I rolled down my window and had the perfect opprotunity to catch the train just as it was taking off. I'm not sure, though, if the photo is too dark to actually tell what it is a photo of.

Day Three Hundred & Fifty-Eight. - Project 365.

Day Three Hundred & Fifty-Eight. - Hidden Sunset. - This was taken right after I got out of work in the parking lot across from our building. There's no real reason why or story about my day that goes along with this photo just me wanting to catch a glimpse of sun. Winter has drained my spirits and I long for the day where I can go outside and walk my dog without having three layers on.

Day Three Hundred & Fifty-Seven. - Project 365.

Day Three Hundred & Fifty-Seven. - Coffee Maker. - Recently Mr. V has had some huge Coffee cravings and asked for a Coffee Maker for Christmas. I've never been a huge fan of Coffee except for when I was younger and my Memaw made it but then it had a lot of sugar and milk in it, haha. I've also kicked the caffeine but I think even if I was still drinking things with caffiene that I wouldn't be a coffee fan. Anyway, this is our new coffee maker that Mr. V's Mom got him for Christmas! He loves it and makes coffee every morning so that's all that matters.

Day Three Hundred & Fifty-Six. - Project 365.

Day Three Hundred & Sixty-Five. - Coordinating Colors. - My Mother has taken it upon herself to buy decorations for our Guest Bathroom, no complaints here! The towels were given, as a Bridal Shower Gift, to us from a good friend of ours and I just love the colors. Since we were in desperate need of a new shower curtain, the ex-roomate left his but it was black and pretty smelly, Mom bought us one for Christmas. It doesn't exactly match the towels, or the other green decorations I have, but it blends together very nicely. The true color of the shower curtain wasn't picked up by my camera but you get the idea, right?

Day Three Hundred & Fifty-Five. - Project 365.

Day Three Hundred & Fifty-Five. - Outdoor Airplane. - Recently we visted some friends of Mr. V, a young married couple, and the husband has a huge Airplane hobby. So, of course, this got Mr. V thinking that he wanted a Airplane too. He already has a Helicopter that he can fly inside but now he wants a Airplane. Well, luckily, his Dad gave him Gift Cards and he was able to purchase his very first Airplane. Now let's see if this weather and windy will let him fly it if not he will have to wait until Spring.

Day Three Hundred & Fifty - Four. - Project 365.

Day Three Hundred & Fifty-Four. - Planning Ahead. - Yet again on the search for Mario Kart and I saw all the Valentines Day stuff out. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that it's being plastered every where not even a week into the new year. The cookie cutter lips and hearts are really cute, though, and I'll probably have to snag a few things for this years Valentines.

Day Three Hundred & Fifty-Three. - Project 365.

Day Three Hundred & Fifty-Three. - Out in the Country. - I've been wanting a video game, Mario Kart, and if you know me then you know that in its self is a big deal because I dislike most video games. Anyway, we had been looking around at various Wal-Marts close to us and found one about fifteen minutes away in Azle. After driving down the back roads to get there we found out that they were all sold out which was really a bummer. I wanted to get a picture of the water tower and ended up with this. I think it was too dark to actually see and it looks blurry because of the wind. I also should have cropped out the cars in the parking lot but I was lazy. It was interesting out in the little city to say the least, though.