Laying it to rest...

I've come to the conclusion that I am laying my photo blog to rest. Let's face it, I haven't updated it in almost a month and I certainly haven't been taking pictures. Things were starting to get a little rocky with it anyway and I wasn't into it much at all anymore. The idea seemed cool for a while, but now I'm just annoyed with it. It was fun for a little while, but it's now time to say goodbye.

The models.

My friend Holly, the one on the right, is applying for a job for Mac make-up and needed people to model for her portfolio. So she did Heather's make-up and my make-up and we took pictures for her portfolio. It was a really fun night and despite all the make-up on my face, I looked really pretty. She's the first person that has ever actually been able to get make-up to look good on me. I really hope she gets the job!

Battle of the Bands.

Tonight I went to the local fair with a few friends for Battle of the Bands. The two bands that we watched, Leone and Stereo Carousel, played at my church last weekend, but I missed it because I had a friend coming into town. I caught both of them tonight and it was a pretty neat night, but I don't really think it's my cup of tea. The picture above is of Stereo Carousel. They were my preference over the two, definitely.

Well..

I took a picture for yesterday, but for some reason it won't show up on the upload feature here. So you don't get to see the cute gift of a stuffed dog and chocolate that I got from my wonderful secret sis at church. Bummer.

Chaperoning.

I chaperoned for an elementary school dance. It was interestingly boring. I'm really not sure what that means, but it means something. It was for the little girl I babysit. She's in 5th grade. One of her friends thought I was her mom. OUCH.

Hurt.

I stood up, walked and smashed.

I rammed my foot into the coffee table in my living room. Brilliant.

Sleep deprived.

Getting home at 1:00 AM, going to bed at 3:00 AM, waking up at 7:00 AM, taking a 20 minute nap at 12:00 PM =4 hrs. and 20 mins. of sleep.

THAT equals painful.

Windblown.

First of all, I must say that I have become absolutely terrible with updating my photo blog. So bad that i'm actually stressed out about it. My photos have been really lame lately, because I feel like i've lost motivation. Probably because i'm not updating it at all. Lame. Well..this is an effort to get caught back up and take some fab photos that are actually interesting.

Now, on this particular day it was freezing! Wow! My face, finger and toes were so so cold! We had the coldest weather we have had in Florida in SIX years. It was in the 20's where I live at night. That's just insane! Everything is so brown and crunchy and ugly around here now. It's pretty depressing once it gets hot and disgusting again. In this photo I had just gotten back from walking my two puppies and the wind was blowing at about 25 mph and it was in the low 50's. Wow! It felt like basically almost 30 degrees. I'm a Floridian and don't have correct clothing for that.

Happy Valentines Day!

It was an interesting day, that's for sure. I said "See you later" to my Grandma with cancer, I saw my other Grandma and she brought many smiles to my face, I felt a little sick and I had deep talks with a friend that were sweet and sad. We got ice cream together, and you can nearly see the fat in the ice cream. I felt like I ate a tub of lard and I even threw more than half of it out of the window. That's GOT to be illegal.

Figuring it out.

My brother got a new camera for me for Christmas. Yeah, I've been using it, but that doesn't necessarily mean I know how to actually work it. My concert photos from Sunday night look horrendous. It's a huge bummer. They really look like they were taken from a cell phone. That's not necessarily supposed to happen like that. How lame. So I took some time to actually look at the users manual and find out where the settings were. Actually...I didn't really know I had them. I don't think i should be a photographer of any kind.

Jason and Ryan.

Well, I obviously ended up going to the concert and it was great! Kelli and I enjoyed time talking over Subway for dinner and it became very very clear why the weekends events had come together. We had a moment before the conversation ended where we were both very near tears. We both knew it, but we also knew that the Holy Spirit was sitting right there with us at our small booth in a Subway. It was a very special moment, indeed.

The concert was the WayFM tour with Jason Gray, Matthew West and Sanctus Real. It was a very very nice line-up and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. It just so happened that my friend Gina's brother, Ryan, was there that night with a friend of his and another friend named Alice was there. It was nice to see friends that you don't see on a regular basis. It was the icing on the cake. Honestly though, I have never ever worshipped like I did that night. I always feel like I am holding something back. Like God is tugging at me and tell me to just let go, but I can't. It was so freeing to just be able to worship Jesus and not have to fight anything. It was beautiful.

Kelli bo-belli.

Kelli and I met through Jaime Jamgochian a couple months ago. A few weeks ago when Jason Gray was at my church she was planning on coming, but then she ended up going to the emergency room with her mom. Her mom has cancer. If you guys follow my blog regularly, you have picked up on the fact that my own Grandmother has been dealing with cancer. Well, I had been planning on going to a concert, but at the beginning of the week my Grandma really took a turn for the worse. My mom informed me that I couldn't go to the concert this weekend because she couldn't be without a car if something happened to my Grandma. I immediately started trying to think of a way to get to the concert anyway. It was the one thing I had to look forward to, to get my mind off of all the chaos. I needed to be in an environment where I could really just worship God without holding anything back. I had no luck finding anyone in my area to go with, but Kelli decided that she wanted to go to the concert. I thought it was a little crazy and too good to be true, but God clearly had a plan. She came to my house on Saturday night and stayed over. We enjoyed getting to know each other better since we hadn't talked very much before we met. She's a fun girl!

Good hygiene.

It seems funny to be saying that a cat has good hygiene. Personally, I would not lick myself if I wanted to be clean or use the restroom in a box. That floats a cats boat, though, so I guess that's neat. Plus, how can anyone resist this face?!?

Beautimous.

It was such a beautiful day. I couldn't get enough of it!

Leadership meeting.

The youth leadership got together to discuss plans for the upcoming year. So much information gave me a headache.

Icecream Icecream Icecream!

Yum!

The party's dwindling...

This was towards the end of the Super Bowl party I attended. People had already left and the whole thing was starting to die down. The party was definitely not lame, though. I don't remember the last time I laughed that much. It was fun.

Chilly!

I went down south to Boca Raton for a chorus competition for my step-sister. It was FREEZING all day, but I loved it. It was a gorgeous day. This was on the campus of the school. It was a really beautiful campus and I wanted to keep snapping pictures. Too much walking around to get from one place to the other for that, though.

Book Mountain.

This is the mountain of books I am reading. All of which I have already started. I need help. Someone call a doctor.

D-e-d. dead.

We had a really bad cold snap and it turned everything really brown, crunchy and ugly. It's quite depressing. This is my backyard. I miss our green green grass.

Sandwich.

I eat a sandwich almost every day for lunch. I love sandwiches and i love mixing up what I put on them. Usually I go through spurts with what I enjoy. Usually the same thing for a whole week until by Friday i'm sick of it. :-) This one is a little bit of mayonnaise, mustard, turkey, lettuce and rye bread. Yum.

Enders Game.

I.Hate.Sci-Fi. I started reading this book as a recommendation from Jason Gray and now i'd just be happy to get through it before it's due on Valentines Day. I think I was trying to trick myself into thinking that I was enjoying it. There's only so much tricking you can do before you realize that you clearly aren't enjoying something. I have about 50 pages left to read and those will likely take me over an hour to read. Something is wrong with this picture...

Benjamin Button.

Michael and I saw this movie together and it was a very good choice. It's definitely a movie where you can make up your mind about the meaning of the whole thing and I like that. There were so many lines in it that made me think so hard that I realized I started missing the movie, so I kind of had to turn my brain off. It's a movie that I would rent and watch again so I can pause and think. I'm happy I caught it on the big screen.

The Lovely Gray's.

The day had finally come! Jason and Taya Gray were at my church. Wow! What a fun day! It was my 5th time seeing Jason and my first time meeting his lovely wife, Taya. Out of all of those shows this was by far the best! He played more new songs than old songs and it was a beautiful evening. I will definitely never forget this day. These two are a blessing!

Jason Gray Birthday Project.

Before I saw Jason Gray he had a birthday. I got the idea of doing something for his birthday from what we normally do for the downhere guys when they have birthdays. People sent me things to add in and it all just came together very nicely. He ended up loving it and definitely wasn't expecting it. I had a blast putting the whole thing together!

Heat Relaxer.

My lovely friend Lori sent be a heat relaxer from Live Beautiful. I still have yet to use it, but i'm sure it will quickly become a great friend of mine. It's pink, which makes me really happy. My favorite color!

Spa night.

Tonight I had spa night with my friend Holly. We had been talking about hanging out forever, but never did anything about it. But tonight we FINALLY got to hang out and it was a lot of fun. We were both a little bummed that our friend Heather couldn't be there, but we plan on making spa night a regular thing and having girls nights together. We gave ourselves pedicures and facials. Then she cut my hair! You can sort of see it in the photo above, but it's not a great picture.

It's so crazy how so many of the people I hang out with are older than I am. I'll be 19 in April, but Holly is 25, she's married and she has a daughter. Heather is 22, married and has a daughter and a son. I just recently left my youth group and I really feel like i'm entering a new chapter in my life. I'm really excited for the changes and challenges God brings me this next year.

Advertisement.

Jason Gray will be at my church on Sunday. I received this beautiful poster tonight at church. I've been looking forward to this concert for a really really long time. It's crazy how God has brought together everything in just a week and a half. He really wanted us to just trust Him and what He is capable of. His timing is the best timing. I trust that He will work the small details of the concert out and really be present in the room on Sunday night. Come out if you can. I would love to see you! Also...I got bribed into introducing Jason before he goes on stage. Public speaking is no where near a strong point of mine. Can you say"nervous"? If I pass out, please catch me!

My favorite!

This cereal brings back great memories from when I was a little girl. I remember sitting at the dining room table and picking out the best clusters and eating them. Then everyone in my family would wonder why there were no clusters left. I ate them all. I haven't eaten this cereal in a really long time, so I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Proverbs bible study.

At the beginning of January there was a bible study starting on www.jaimejam.com that I wanted to join in on, but couldn't because I had accidentally left in my bible in a friends car. That specific friend lives over an hour away. So..I couldn't join in until I either got my bible back, or bought a new one. I resorted to buying a new one. I'm happy that I made that decision, because I really like my new one a lot. It's a Women of Faith study bible. As you can see, i've already started making my own little notes and highlighting things. This is going to be a bible that I can have for a really really long time.

All the same.

On Sunday my step-siblings, step-dad and I all played Skip-bo. We bought it, so now we can play whenever we want to. This is what it looked like for a very long time throughout the game.

My brother is a cow.

My brother, Kenneth, works are Chik-fil-a and he was in the cow suit on Saturday in the movie theater. So we went to visit him. It was hilariously embarrassing. He came up to me and gave me this huge hug and the lady that was standing next to him said "Wow! That cow really likes you a lot!" and I had to tell her in the midst of my embarrassment 'This is my brother.." and she said "Ohh..yeah. Riiiight!" Like she didn't believe me or something. Alright, lady...

Ferocious beast.

Wow! Does Spookie look scary or what?? She was in the middle of a yawn. I love this baby girl.

Cat scratch fever.

Spookie scratched me, because I was petting her belly. :-(

Morning tea time.

It's not very often I wake up with a cup of tea, but yesterday I thought it would have gone well with my oatmeal. So I enjoyed every second of it.

White Chocolate Moments.

My friend Nikole, who I have mentioned many times before in this blog, let me borrow this book. It didn't take me long to get into it at all. It was a really phenomenal book. A beautiful story about love and reconciliation. I definitely recommend it!

Lap cat.

She's a lap cat instead of a lap dog.

I hate talking on the phone.

On Sunday I was on and off the phone all afternoon with the youth leaders at my church. We were talking back and forth about the upcoming Jason Gray concert at my church. Satan threw us a huge curve ball, which doesn't surprise me at all because it's been happening since May. But in the end everything ended up being pulled together and it's happening. I'm so excited!

More reuniting.

Nikole, Mark and I were in marching band together. Nikole and I were both in colorguard, but Mark was always our buddy. I hadn't hung out with him for about 6 months, so it was really nice to reminisce about our high school and marching band days. We spent the evening laughing until we cried. We even snuck in a game of skip-bo! :-)

An unusual snack.

I popped a bag of popcorn and added chocolate chips to it. It was a nice mix of sweet and salty, but I eventually couldn't take any more of it. I don't think i'll do that again...

What's inside my mug?

My mom surprised me with a mug of hot cocoa tonight and I loved every moment every minute of it. Cheers!

Close call!

There has been a "Watch For Children" sign across the street from me for forever and I thought these men were coming to take it down. But they didn't. Close call. Actually...that was just how exciting my day was yesterday...

The dermatologist.

I went to the dermatologist on Tuesday and I went to the dentist on Monday. I like the dermatologist much better than the dentist. So much less painful. Thank you very much!

Workout much?

I worked out for 40 minutes and felt like I could have fallen over. This was right after i ran in place for 12 minutes. Intense!

My own personal Sarah.

That sounds a little creepy. It's not meant to be. This was basically the only picture I took on Sunday. I love Sarah. That is all.

Skip-bo.

Nikole and her Grandma taught me how to play this game and once I got the hang of it, I owned everyone that was playing with me. I loved it! I want to see if I can find it somewhere so my step-siblings and I can play whenever we want.

Hanging out!

Nikole and I hung out together on Friday and then I spent the night at her house that night. Our hang outs always consist of really long talks where we talk about anything and everything. It's what we do and it's always so much fun!

Keeping the tradition going.

For the past few years, every New Years day my mom and I always sit down sometime during the day and play a game of backgammon and eat delicious snacks together. It's sort of become a tradition and it's a lot of fun. My family really isn't a games type of family, which makes me kind of sad. Because there's no other way to have fun except by playing great games together. It's even better with my mom!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year friends! I hope your year is even better than last year. I have a feeling mine will be! :-)

Moving on up!

I helped my old youth leaders move into their new house. I helped them when they moved into their previous house, and now they've bought a house of their own and I helped move them into that one. It will look great when it's all done! :-)