Documenting Gretna

Here's something to add to my little-list-of-things-to-do for the weekend. I'm going to become a tourist in my own town.

Things I want to document:
*The Gretna library
*Motorcycles on Hwy 6
*The cobblestone streets in town
*Our church
*The tornado sirens
*The view from our deck
*Sonic frozen lemonade (which means I'll have to buy one...)
*Our door knocker
And hopefully a whole bunch of other unexpected photos too.

organized nesting

My "nesting" period has definitely begun as we prepare to move out of one nest and make arrangements for moving into the Minnesota nest. Because I can't lift heavy things (splendid timing, I believe) I have created a system that should make this move as smooth as possible. Each box has a nametag on it telling which room, and often times which part of the room I want it to end up in, as well as a list of what is inside.

I know everyone labels their boxes when they move, but honest to goodness, the picture above just makes my heart happy. Something about the uniform nametags and the obvious contents written on each one... I am an organized girl, and I love a good system and this move is fulfilling both of those loves.

(This picture was taken a week ago. Believe me, this pile of boxes has grown and will continue to grow with more lovely-labeled boxes.)

good neighbor award

I found this on my counter when we returned from our week vacation in Minnesota. Joan is our neighbor lady who came by our place occasionally to play with our cat while we were gone, and she's the kind of lady who keeps you in mind even while she's at a garage sale. Now I've got the stuff to make more alphabet crayons! She also reads my blog. (Hi Joan!) Joan has served as my Nebraska mom and saying goodbye will be hard. She is also the one who gave our cat, Toonces, a new nickname. She said once, "Sometimes I can't remember his name so I just call him Tuna."

(here's the cat Toonces is named after.)

30 weeks!

Today I am 30 weeks pregnant and I feel like celebrating. Seems like a big milestone, a good landmark-type number and another week closer to baby.

I got to go to a baby shower yesterday for a girl at church and I realized that attending a baby shower when you are pregnant is similar to attending a wedding when you are engaged. I was so excited for every gift she opened, so interested in what was given and what it is used for, so happy for her and her baby girl.

While we were there a church friend started talking about Kelley Ryden. Kelley is a local Omaha photographer who specializes in newborns (thanks Stacy for the link!). Check out the picture above! I don't even get how this is possible...to have newborn arms support a newborn head?!! But apparently lots of babies can do it because she has lots of pictures (AMAZING pictures) on her site. Check out here site here and her blog here. Wowza.

***

Yesterday, Rory and I watched Father of the Bride 2, the one where Annie and her mom are both pregnant. At one point, Steve Martin is having all sorts of flash backs of his little girl throughout the years and realizing that she is now going to have her own little baby. Rory was looking at the screen and remarked, "this could be touching if it wasn't so cheesy." And then he looked over at me, a mess of crocodile tears, falling apart before his very eyes. I felt so busted and we laughed good and hard...and then my laughs turned back into tears. I ended up crying through the rest of the movie with Rory giggling and telling me repeatedly how he loves the pregnant Becca so much.

big balloons in the sky

We were driving to half-price books on Saturday night and found our hot air balloon friends again! There is a local group that goes out together and last year we were pretty good about following their schedule and watching them take off. But this was the first we spotted them this year.



It's a really calm and amazing thing to watch. I'm still not sure if I'd be game for going up in one...for some reason I can't quite get past the fact that you're basically swinging from a basket, suspended in the air by fire and hot air, dodging electrical wires. Rory said he'd go up though, and I suppose I would go if he would go...

We took this super-excited-cheesey picture and I find it quite fitting since lately I have been feeling rather balloon-like myself...

celebrity

I just emailed Ali Edwards a quick question regarding the type case picture display that I made. My pictures keep falling out, so I wondered what kind of adhesive she used to mount her pictures to the wooden frame.

She emailed me back within 60 seconds. And I about fell out of my chair. I admire her stuff so much, copy her projects so often (flattery, right?) and appreciate her spin on memory keeping.

A while back I emailed Cathy Zielske a question about where to order my Monthly album pages and when she replied I screamed and told Rory to "Get in here! You'll never believe who emailed me back!"

It's so funny how excited I got with both of these email replies. I know that in the greater world out there most people would say, "Ali who?" "And Cathy does what again?" But in the niche that I frequent, the niche that I love hanging out in, these women are huge and I really admire their work.

(I also think it's interesting to note that celebrities used to mainly be actors and rockstars...but now with blogs and youtube, celebrities can really pop up anywhere, as a tribe (thank you Seth Godin) can form around any particular interest or topic.)

I have seen many people meet my sister-in-law Sara. She's a singer and when fans get to meet her they often want to convey volumes of how her music has influenced their life, helped them through dark seasons and motivated them to take an active role in God's kingdom. And so often, when they finally get to the front of the line to tell Sara all of these things they end up tongue tied and awkward. (The funny thing is that when I was with Sara one time, we met Beth Moore, and I watched Sara herself become the one who was trying to convey years worth of learnings into one short conversation. And she was struggling to get the words out just like I had seen her fans struggle to get their words out while meeting her.)

It's so difficult, because at the core, I think we each want to say to these people: You have changed the way I see things and do things. I have been affected by your contribution to the world. I am inspired and now to want to contribute honest, thoughtful things too.

***

Anyway, these are just my thoughts while I'm trying to process the fact that my excited head is still screaming on repeat, "Ali Edwards replied to me! Ali Edwards replied to me!"

And speaking of inspiring people, remind me sometime to tell you about the time I met Leslie Nielsen at the Phoenix airport. That might be the end-all-be-all to starstruck interactions. :)

july in pictures

I've had a few girlfriends ask me about the monthly digital scrapbooking. I thought I'd take a minute to document the details.

1.This first link is the link to Cathy Z's page with all the how-to's and what-for's. I use purely digital and I love it. It's fast, my friend. Once you get this down it is possible to plug and chug a months worth of pictures in two hours. No kidding.

2. The templates can be purchased at designer digitals by clicking this link.

3. Now, to learn how to use these digital templates, as well as the basics of photoshop, you really should order Jessica Sprague's Up and Running with Photoshop class. During week three there is a tutorial on how to use digital templates. Watch this, and then watch your scrapbooking life change forever.

4. I print my pages at http://www.scrapbookpictures.com/ I did my first batch in matte, but I MUCH prefer the glossy (my second batch)...they look much more professional. And for the record, they have never been able to process my credit card on this site. They can take my order, but I always have to call the next day during working hours to give them my credit card over the phone. It's a pain. And when they answer the phone it's something like "Hello Instyprints" and so clearly this little printing website is just an offshoot of a local printshop. But the quality of the printing and the price make up for the hassel.

I did my July pictures last night and am finding that some months Rory and I never take pictures of ourselves. It made me smile to think of how this will change when the baby comes, documenting our own little family ALL THE TIME. I also realized how great my blog is for making me take pictures of the ordinary. I really love that I have pics of the orange goo I had to drink for my doctor's appointment. I know the camera was whipped out purely for the blog that day, but now I love that I have that picture. It tells a whole (sicky) story of its own...

emotions have caught up to logic

All of these files are now empty. I am cleaning out my office this week, and the fact that I am leaving this place is finally starting to hit. Our moving back to Minnnesota makes all the logical sense in the world- we want our kids close to family, our renters are moving out of our house leaving it vacant with a mortgage to be paid each month, I would have been changing my working hours anyway because of this baby and Rory is eager to get his company back to Minneapolis.

But all of those known reasons still don't make it any easier to walk away from a job that was giving me so many opportunities to do all of the things I love: write Bible studies and devotionals, plan senior retreats, speak in front of all sorts of groups about the importance of passing on the faith to the next generation, invest in and learn from a hopeful group of college students, organize crafting nights and to get to be a part of God's kingdom work here in Nebraska.

One week from today is my last day at Carol Joy Holling and two weeks from today I will be waking up on Girard Avenue in Minneapolis. That's a whole lot to process at the moment.

baby nursery

Rory and I are starting to think through what we want the nursery to look like. This was the wall hanging in my nursery growing up...and I think it was still on my wall well into elementary school. I used to stare at this picture forever, drifting off to sleep or just as I was waking up. There was always something to look at, wonder about and my imagination made up all sorts of stories to go with the different scenes.

my pictures are bigger!

Special thanks to my techy husband. And to our photogenic cat, Toonces.

honesty, honestly.

This past winter I came into work, must have been in a pretty good mood and was standing with coworkers when one of them remarked of my happy state, "well look who's pissing sunshine today." A few weeks later I found out that other coworkers had secretly nicknamed me Sparkles and Hearts and referred to me with this name behind my back while they worked at the desks next to me.

I know I'm a happy girl. I am naturally optimistic, and naturally glass-half-full. This rubs some people the wrong way but it's hard to change your hard wired personality. And though these remarks still sting, I would never change on account of these opinions. I know on this blog, topics and entries probably come across with this same sort of life-is-bliss undertone, and the truth is, I largely feel this way. And I choose to blog this way.


***

My sister called me last week, feeling defeated by a facebook status update she had read. It was one of those that left you feeling left out, lesser than, comparing your life to the words someone else has written about their own life, leaving you with a bit of a jealous heart. I know we've all been there.

One of her girls needed her, so we hung up, but the next day I wrote her an email telling her that if anyone were looking at her life from the outside, based on her blog and status updates, they easily could be feeling the same way, comparing their life to her happy marriage, darling girls all set amongst mountains and teal lakes. We later talked about what a disservice we do to one another in posting only the happiest pictures, writing about the happiest of moments, and failing to document the in between, less glamorous, real life that happens every single day.

I love my sister, because she's a take charge kind of gal, gets things done and follows through. So I guess I wasn't too surprised when the very next morning she had posted this blog entry, filling in the places that aren't mentioned so much in happy blogland. And then her sister-in-law wrote a post inspired by Annika's honesty. Both blogs feel real and I think you might enjoy taking a moment to read each one.

7 months and one week

I didn't take a picture last Monday so this is a week off of my seven month picture, but here I am in all my growing glory. The shirt I'm wearing used to be my favorite maternity shirt, but after reviewing this picture I am now aware that my belly has shortened it by many inches and it may need to be retired.

I'm still feeling good. My ankles are enormous which at the moment is more amusing than annoying. Honestly, by the end of the day it is as if someone has poked a straw into my feet and inflated them just to the point of popping. Then I go to bed, and they slowly deflate so that in the morning I have normal feet, but by the next night I wonder if my feet might just fly away. And I have had a really gross cough for over three weeks now. Coughed so hard I bruised a rib or pulled a muscle or something horribly painful. But that's getting better now. Most importantly, my energy is still up and I continue to live in awe of the love we have for this little life inside of me.

My favorite memory from this month was from Mt. Carmel. Rory was holding my belly and the baby extended a foot or something for super prolonged periods of time. This was different from the quick, hard kicks I have been getting lots of lately. This was slow motion and we felt so close to our baby in these moments of contact. We were sitting on the deck at Mount Carmel and I guess I just hope that I never forget the magic we felt, feeling so connected to our little baby; feeling so much like a little family.

back from vacation

This vacation was one of our best. I unplugged for almost the entire week, not opening my laptop except for one late Tuesday night. And it felt good to be disconnected for a while.

We were at Mount Carmel for the week, but I wasn't in charge of a thing this time. A camp like this is the easiest way to vacation because meals are prepared, beach access is steps away from your cabin, there is plenty of downtime for reading and running and napping (Rory on running, Becca on napping) and there are plenty of new friends to be made. But you're not obligated to any particular social schedule, and if you don't finish a conversation, you know you still have six days to catch each other either over lunch or at the beach or with popcorn at the canteen.

We're home now and I'm taking it really slow today. Finished my vacation book, enjoyed another nap, worshiped with our church community and even got groceries and the laundry done so that I can take on the week ahead.

And now we're off to get a bucket of chicken to take to a nearby lake, squeezing one more evening of summer-loving into our technical vacation time.

just a quick hello

This is the view from the windows of our sweet little cabin. Lovely.

We are on vacation in every sense of the word and enjoying so much the calm and quiet of this place. I'm working through my stack of books and magazines, napping every day, working up some serious swimsuit tan lines, enjoying long, thoughtful conversations with new and old friends and more than anything loving how Rory and I are both on vacation together...neither one of us is preoccupied. We are fully present here together and it's the greatest.

I've been thinking though all sorts of deep things too. Vacation is so good for this. To actually have the time to reflect and process life is such a gift. Like today I was pondering lotion boogers, and if there is any way around them. Does everyone's pump lotion clog up like mine does? And do other people have to change shirts some mornings because the lotion booger plugged up the pump, causing projectile lotion to spray everything within a three feet radius, except into your ready, cupped hand?

See, I think you need vacation to really process the important stuff. And that's what I'm doing.

baby quilt

*My camp staff surprised me on Sunday morning with this baby quilt. They all pitched their money together and won this beauty for me. When Rory saw it he said, "I never saw that one! If we had seen that one, I would have chosen that one to bid on." So good pick, camp staff. It is the softest fabric in the world and has got us very excited.

*I've gotten some emails lately asking if they missed the post telling what gender our baby is. But you haven't missed the announcement. We're going to be surprised. And we're still really excited this is our choice. Some people are not excited about this choice of ours and it's amusing. The people who are bugged aren't particularly close to us...just people who groan when we tell them we're waiting to find out. Like the inconvenience is on them. Ha! I promise we are not waiting to find out the gender just to annoy people :)

*We made our first trip to Babies R Us last week and were overwhelmed and a bit dazed and confused. Rory consoled himself in a glider rocker most of the time, soothing himself back and forth. I took in some oh-so-normal conversations between husbands and wives where husbands would say things like, "I just don't see why we would spend an extra $150 because you like the headboard on that crib better than this one here that is so much cheaper"

*We have our first Minnesota doctor appointment tomorrow morning. I am eager-beaver to meet our new doctor.

*I had a dream last night that I had my baby and was telling it very matter-of-factly that it wasn't time to come out yet, that we still had 3 months to wait. And the baby (who looked much like a miniature old man) said it just wanted to see who I was. And I told him how excited I was to be his mama and held him for a long, long time and then told him he needed to go back in because the womb was the best place for him to grow strong right now. And then I put him back in the same way he came out.