Day 151

Today is Memorial Day & my parent's 24th anniversary. I went to bed early, about 10:30, last night so I woke up 10 something this morning nice & refreshed. After waking my brother up and getting ready, we were off to the movies to see Prince of Persia. It was a good movie, we all enjoyed it. We made a quick trip to walmart, where I got some body wash, in case you wanted to know, and came home and put a pizza in the oven. My parents had a little party at our house and somebody brought over a really pretty flower bouquet. So that's my subject for today's photo. I'm happy to have something bright as my picture because it seems like my last few have been kinda dark or blah. Anyways, I'm happy to be home with my family enjoying a nice summer day. :)

Day 150

Yesterday I ate breakfast with my boyfriend and headed back towards home. I drove into the driveway and parked just before my family drove in from church. We ate lunch and I took a nap for a couple of hours. I woke up, showered, and headed with my family to the Rose Theater in town to watch the church's youth pre-choir tour concert. It's sad because I was in the choir and went on tour from 7th grade to 12th grade. Now I have to sit and watch the choir from the stands. The pre-tour concert went very good. :) Hope y'all have a great tour.

Day 149

Saturday was another good day. I slept in a little and woke up my boyfriend after I got ready. We lounged around his house for a little bit before I convinced him to drive us to a Greenway near his house to walk around and let me take pictures. It's a neat little area that goes for miles where you can just walk or run or ride your bicycle. It was a pretty day and I got some neat pictures. After we walked for a little bit, we went back to his house, picked up his brother and three bikes and went riding for about an hour. That was a lot of fun. Then getting back, we ate a yummy supper and played cards for a while. Good day :).

Day 148

Friday May 28th was an exciting day for a lot of people. It was graduation day at my high school, so congratulations class of 2010! I did not attend the ceremony because I was headed to Atlanta. I was off to see my boyfriend whom I had not seen since we got out of school. I was nervous though because I had not driven by myself through Atlanta yet but I did just fine. :) That evening we met up with a group of friends from school to head to a Braves game. Five of us piled in a car and met another friend at the Varsity to eat before the game got started. While we were eating, a storm hit and hit hard. It poured and hailed and thundered and there was lots of lightning. We weren't feeling so great about this game going on. We sat in the restaurant for a little while longer and when the rain lightened up, we got in our cars and headed to the parking lots. We parked where we could see the stadium and from what we could tell no one was in the stands. We waited and the time for the game came and went and still nothing could be seen. We debated on whether or not to stay longer or head on back to the house. We communicated with the others who were in our group but not in the car and they didn't know what to do either. So we sat around for a little longer and after looking at the radar and seeing that the weather didn't look to be clearing up we left. The five of us in the car went back to my boyfriend's house and we piled into the basement and watched a movie. Unfortunately we discovered that after we left they had started the game. That's a disappointment but oh well...at least we got to see some friends.

Day 147

Today was another good day. I got to work a little bit early so I had to sit in my car waiting on somebody to get there so they could let me into the office. I was just sitting listening to my ipod and all of a sudden this cat hopped down on the roof of my car! It made me just but I also hurried to pick up my camera so I could take pictures of it. I've seen this cat before and I think it is owned by somebody who lives close to the office. I suppose it just likes to hang around though! I spent all of the morning making phone calls to churches to ask them to send the CBF office their newsletters/bulletins. For everyone who answered, I started out with this loong montage saying "Hello I am from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Georgia State Office. I was wondering if your church sends out weekly/monthly bulletins/newsletters to the church members." Breath. They would either respond with a "yes" or a "no" and if they said yes I would say "We would like to receive it." Then I had to figure out if they sent out their newsletters via mail or email. Then I had to give them our mailing address or our email. Then I said thank you very much and goodbye. So I did this, oh I don't know, maybe a hundred times. But anyways, the newsletters are very beneficial so this needs to be done. This project made time fly by and I stopped to eat lunch. After I didn't do much because I only had an hour or so left before time to leave. So I made sample collages to show to the coordinator an idea that Aimee and I had for calendars to send out to our churches. I came home and my brother and dad were walking around the newly cleaned pool Caleb got in and I was hot so I went and put my bathing suit, too, and got into the pool It's chilly but a lot warmer than normal because we cut down a tree that had been blocking the sun from the pool for years. I hope I got some sun because I am SO white haha. It was fun and now I'm relaxing with my family in our kitchen sitting room. Great Day. Tomorrow I am very excited because in the morning I will be driving for my first time to and through Atlanta. My boyfriend lives north of Atlanta and I am going to spend some time with him and then that night we're going to a Braves game with a group of about 10 friends from Mercer. I'm quite excited, it'll be a great weekend. :)

Day 146

Yesterday was a pretty good day. Work went just fine and I came home to find my brother immediately wanting me to drive him to church. So I did and after I decided to drive by the high school for old time sakes. I didn't want to look suspicious or anything so I went and parked at the track & walked around taking a few pictures. I really like how this one of the track came out because it draws your eye towards the back of the picture. I'm really excited because last night, I ordered tickets for me & my family to go see the Twilight Saga: Eclipse midnight premier on June 29th! :)

Day 145

Today was a better day than yesterday. Another five hours in the office, spent reading bulletins and eating lunch. I got my first paycheck, which was nice to get. It will be a large increase on my bank account. I went to the mall again (my attempt yesterday failed) and was successful...I got a tank top, a ring, & two necklaces at American Eagle. I got home watched some tv and sacked out in a nap after my brother fell asleep on the couch. I woke up to supper being cooked. After we ate, I walked around my front yard and porch to take pictures. :) Good day, I must say.

Day 144

Today was a pretty good day. Work was kind of stressful because the project that I'm working on now uses excel and it was just being a pain. Anyways, one of the other ladies in the office today has a birthday Friday so we went out to eat today at this place called The Back Burner & it was really good. I had some amazing salmon. I got home took some pictures outside and did osome work on my online education class. It's a lot of work that I don't want to be doing this summer but I need it for my credits and major so I must put up with it. Uhh. Anyways my brother is studying for finals so tonight it was fun to sit outside with my mom and brother and eventually Dad. So I took some pictures with my webcam of me and my mom and me and my brother. Oh how I love summer! :) Now I'm talking to my boyfriend on skype; I see him Friday & I'm very excited about it. :)

Day 143

Today has been a good day. I woke up, got ready, and went to church. My brother drove my mom and myself because he wanted to show off his new car to all of his friends at church. Sunday school went good, I'm in a college class and I really enjoy it and get a lot out of it. Today was a special day for the high school seniors because it was Senior Recognition Sunday. So everybody (minus one who had to get acknowledged last week) got dressed up in their caps and gowns, walked down to the front of the church, had their individualized college plans told to the church, and the rest of the church service continued in their honor. It's so hard to believe that I graduated just a year ago! The year flew by and I love college; I wouldn't have done much at all different. Another crazy thing is that if I were graduating the year I was suppose to, I would have graduated this year - as part of the class of 2010. But I did graduate class of 2009 and I'm happy to have done so. Getting home I really did not know what to do for my picture. I just now actually took one, 6:00 in the evening. We have a beautiful window in our front door. I decided to take pictures of this and see how they came out. I liked the colors so I decided to let one be my photo-of-the-day. Thinking about it now, these seniors (well everybody else too but still) are about to start on an unknown journey towards their future. This window is kind of representative of this because you can't see totally through it, like people not knowing their future. We have to trust and have faith in God to make our plans and paths for us because we can't see clearly into our futures! With God's help, we will be able to do wondrous things. :)

Day 142

I woke up this morning about 9:45 to find my mom and dad almost all the way through cleaning 3 of our family cars. They had vacuumed our carpets at the local car cleaners, hand washed the cars, and cleaned the seats and dashboards. My brother was woken up shortly after I did because now it was his turn to clean and wax his new car. I didn't get to help too much but I did make lunch so I suppose that counts. Now I'm about to watch some of the Champions League Final, which my boyfriend is watching and wanted me to. I think it's always amazing to watch these soccer players play...they're so good! :) Anyways, before too long my family & I are going to watch robin hood at the theaters. Hope it's good! :)

Day 141

Yesterday, Friday May 21st, was a good day. I didn't have work so I tried to sleep in, which didn't work because I woke up about 7 and couldn't go back to sleep. So I worked in my room some trying to finish getting all of my college dorm stuff put away. I made good progress but I still have a ways to go. For supper, my parents made a low country boil. Oh & it's so good. You cook shrimp, corn cobs, sausage, and little potatoes in a big pot together with boiling water & crab mix. Very yummy. My dad and brother picked up Avatar, Up in the Air, and Blind Side from Ingles to watch while we ate. We haven't watched blind side yet (& I have never seen it) but we did watch avatar and up in the air. I hadn't seen avatar before but I LOVED IT! One of my favorite movies now. I'd seen up in the air in theaters with college friends but I enjoyed it again. :) PS- the flowers in the picture are my mom's from work.

Day 140

Today was a good day. I finished my second week at work, my first 40 hours at work! :) I'm so thankful to have a job because most of my friends are still without. I finished at had to go get my brother from school but I had like 45 minutes to spare once I got into town. So I kinda drove around town and stopped at the graveyard by the high school. It has some really old graves and some familiar names so it was fun taking pictures. Now I'm at home watching Oprah and happy to be relaxing. I don't work Friday's so my weekend has begun! :)

Day 139

Yesterday was an exciting day for my brother. At least since he turned 15, maybe before, he and my dad had been browsing online for cars. Cars cars cars. Well luckily for Caleb, they found the perfect car a week or so ago: a deep red Honda Civic Si Coupe. He has gotten more and more excited about this car and yesterday we picked it up from the owner. It's a six speed which my brother is still getting used to (he's been practicing on my Mom's Jetta). Getting home I was looking for a picture to take and I saw my keys on the counter so I thought I'd photograph them. It made me think of getting my car 3 Christmases ago. Behind my back, my mom and dad had been searching for my dream car: a bright green VW bug. Waking up on my 15th Christmas morning, I found the keys to my car. I was so excited! Now it's my brother's turn. :)

Day 138

Hello my dear readers. :) Yesterday was my brother's soccer banquet. After a day at work, I didn't have much time for photography so I just took pictures at the banquet and hoped something would suffice. I played soccer from an early age until my junior year of high school. Why did I stop you might ask? Well, the soccer coach I played under 10th and 11th grade was not a good coach in my opinion. I was not an amazing soccer player but I tried my hardest. Our coach had favorites so only played those girls, even if they walked on the field and didn't try at all to play the game, so people like me were benched most of the season. I was extremely frustrated with this and it made soccer not fun for me so I didn't play as a senior. Anyways, this banquet made me happy I wasn't still involved in the program because nothing has changed about the coach. My brother has played many years, too, and he played JV this year and I think had a fun time. :)

Day 137

Yesterday was a very interesting day. I had a dentist appointment and then I headed to work. This summer I am going to work at a children's camp in Taliaferro County - pronounced Toliver - called Touching Taliaferro with Love. So there was a meeting in Crawfordville, GA - aka the only city inside Taliaferro county. I went with my boss/coworker Aimee on this 2 hour drive from the office. Before we left though, a couple of other coworkers told us to watch out for this beautiful but falling apart church, one that we should pass on our path into the county. We didn't see it on the way but after an extremely long hour-and-a-half meeting, we headed back towards Macon and ran into this church. We drove past it but immediately turned around to take pictures. So we walked up to the church and decided to go into the open door. It's so run down that there are holes in the walls and we felt like walking on the floor would just about make everything cave in. There was a little sign saying though that there are sometimes services still held here, at Antioch Baptist Church. So after taking pictures inside we wandered back outside. We parked on the left side of the front of the church, so staying towards the front we wandered to the right side of the church where they had a little graveyard to see a different angle of the church. When we walked outside, we heard this buzzing noise that sounded like a bee hive. We ignored this noise until we heard a different noise (I think it was something different, I think Aimee might've thought it was the same noise but it changed). Something like a moan almost kept repeating itself over and over the longer we were around the right side of the church. We heard it and wondered aloud about it and the noise kept getting louder. I freaked out as little as possible and told Aimee that we needed to go...now. She went on to the car, quite fast, and after snapping a few more pictures, I did the same. As soon as we both had our doors closed, I locked the doors. Yes, I was very freaked out. I kept expecting some rabid animal to come and attack us or see some mass murder come to kill us. Aimee thought that the noise could have been caused by somebody gagged and hidden by the church and was calling for help. I was in no mood to get back out of the car, and neither was she, so we quickly drove away. We talked about it for a while on the trip home and Aimee, being the good soul that she is, called the police to report this. Who knows if they actually went or not but I sure hope they heard what we did. We were both scared and having watched too much CSI and other TV shows like that our imaginations were going quite crazy. I'm glad we got out of there as fast as we did because who knows what could have hopped out of the woods. Aimee said this morning that she didn't sleep much last night thinking about that freaky church. I don't blame her either.
This picture though is something I really like. I love black and white photography, I think there is such a deeper meaning behind pictures taken in black & white. This one looks cool because you can see the wear and tear on the church structure and can see the clouds in the sky. In black and white, the pictures remind me of our horrifying experience.

Day 136

Today! Yay, finally caught up! :) So, as yesterday, I didn't know what to take a picture of. My mom wanted to make sure I would continue what I started with my project when I waited until after 5:00 pm to take pictures. Well mom, here you are:
So it's raining, well trying to, outside. This fact prevented me from wandering my front yard because I didn't want to get my camera wet. Staying on the porch, I saw a watering can. So I put it on the railing and shot some different angles. This one is my favorite because you probably wouldn't immediately guess what it was a picture of. The layout and colors are things I like, too. So though it was a last minute picture, I really like it! :)

Day 135

Yesterday was a good day I just didn't have many photo opportunities. My mom, dad, & I went to see Letters to Juliet in theaters. It was a good movie, one I had been anticipating for a while. Afterwards, we went grocery shopping. After eating an early supper we wandered outside which is where I took my pictures. I didn't have a picture that was my absolute favorite but I like this one of the clouds because it's simple and whispy...just nice and calm. :)

Day 134

Fridays are going to be wonderful days of the week. Fridays I don't have work. Now, don't think that I am unhappy with work because I am enjoying it very much, but it is always nice to have a day off. I slept until around 9:00, worked a little on the directory, and was off to get a hair cut. It has been a long time since I've gotten a hair cut so it was nice to start fresh again. Though I only got about an inch cut off I'm happy I was able to get it done. After my hair appointment, I though well since I'm out in town, let me take some time to wander around! I parked my car at the church and walked around the square taking pictures and walking into stores if I was interested. My picture-of-the-day is of my town's theater, I live in a small town so since we don't have a movie theater this is a good place where we can produce and watch plays. :)

Day 133

Thursday was a busy day. I had work, a photoshoot, then my brother's band concert. All went well but I was running from place to place. For the photoshoot a friend of mine from high school contacted me asking if I could take pictures of a friend of her's from college for his mother's day present. I readily agreed and had a fun time with that. My brother plays the tenor saxophone in his high school's concert band (I played the french horn a couple of years during my time in high school) so we went to his concert and that also went very well. My photo-of-the-day is of the pathway at the park where I took pictures of my friend's friend. I always think this old brick looks really cool. :)

Day 132

Wednesday was another day at work as far as I can remember. After coming home though I went to church to take pictures of the children's musical presentation. I was given a large responsibility to help out with the designing of our new church directory. So pictures of the kids will fit in nicely. I chose this picture because it is the cutest face I caught on camera. Before they sang for church, the youngest group of kids was hanging out on the stage. I pulled my camera out to get them to smile for me so in turn they all wanted individual time in front of the camera. So they started making faces at me and I get this one of the cutest little girl. :)

Day 131

TODAY! :) Tuesday May 11. So hard to believe that I've been out of school for a week! I didn't have work today but strangely I only slept until 9:00. Waking up then I set in my mind that I would clean my room today and finally put away all of my college stuff just piled in my room. So I ate breakfast & watched TV for a little while before beginning my task. I stopped after a couple of hours work and settled back down to the TV and my cross stitching project. I did make good progress in my room, though there is still work to be done. For mother's day, my father got my mother some of those hanging pots where the vegetables grow out of the bottom. I'm sorry I'm not a great explainer but I hope you all know what I'm talking about. Anyways, after my mom got home from work she went out to water her new tomato and cucumber plants. I went with her and entertained out dogs by scratching their bellies and throwing a chewed-up tennis ball. Sadly the ball landed in the pool but I saved the day when I kicked the water until it went to the other side so I could fish it out without falling in or using the aid of a net. ( I am sad that we have not been the best caretakers for our dogs but I know they enjoy the time we do spend with them.) We ate hamburgers, fries, and pears for supper and watched American Idol and Glee on TV. Now I am tired and needing to go to sleep so I can wake up for work in the morning. Goodnight world. :)

PS - say hello Jaws our border collie.

Day 130

Monday was a good day. It was my first day of work (which went well) and after I came home, it was nice to be able to relax and not worry about school work. My mother (along with all mothers) were given a single rose when they came to eat at Taki. I had wanted to photograph said rose so I took Monday evening as my opportunity. The sun was setting so I could not go outside and the kitchen lighting just wasn't what I wanted. So my mother had the idea of me using my dorm room desk lamp to help with lighting which worked wonderfully. I started out just putting the rose on the counter which looked good. Then my mom put a little doily underneath it which looked nice. My mom put the rose in a creamer dish which looked even better. My dad then came in, and seeing this process, suggested that I use some of our China pieces that have a rose on them. I got one of the china cups with a good view of the rose & placed the rose on it in multiple ways. My favorite one is posted here. I really enjoyed this photo shoot because it's fun to be able to get artistic with lighting, props, and colors...not something I have much time or opportunity for. I really do love this picture...I think it is one of my 365 favorites!

Day 129

Happy Belated Mother's Day to all Mom's! Especially my own. :) We woke up as on a normal Sunday morning and went to church, my mom wearing a beautiful corsage. After church, we changed clothes and were off to Taki in Macon for a hopefully wonderful meal. We expected a wait but only had a short one (at least for some mother's day standards). I got the habachi shrimp as normal and enjoyed it immensely but unfortunately burned my tongue on the delicious soup appetizer. After, we went to see Ironman 2 in theaters. I liked it and recommend those interested to see it but I didn't think it was the best movie of all time or anything and liked the first movie better. But anyways, later that evening my mom, dad, and I walked around the block. Across the street from the entrance of our neighborhood is an old barn and field that had just been plowed and the hay on it bailed. So we wandered to some of the hay bails and took pictures. I took some pictures of the landscape too with the hay because it was just so pretty! Walking home, my brother caught up riding his bike so we were all able to walk back to the house together as a family. :)

Day 128

Saturday! :) Though I didn't think I'd get the chance, I was able to sleep in to almost noon. After my brother & I woke up & got ready, my whole family was off to pick strawberries! :) It was tough picking but we were able to get 4 full gallons, which added to the 4 they previously picked, will make for a good number of frozen strawberries for us to enjoy until next year's season. Last year picking, a beautiful peacock opened it's tail and strutted around so I could take some pictures, this year it was no such luck, I only heard them talking to each other.

Oh how I love summer days with the family! :)

Day 127

Though I can't remember every single itty bitty detail of Friday, I do remember what made it a special day. My brother is an extra/dancer/set mover in the play our town's theater is putting on: Fiddler on the Roof. So, though we'd already seen it once, we decided to go back again but take my grandmother this time. So we cleaned the house, invited my grandmother and my uncles to our house to grill out steak & sausage before going to the play. My uncles have recently gotten foster children so they brought them along to eat so they couldn't stay for the play. They're adorable kids...1, 2, & 4. Anyways, the meal was good & so was the play. :)

Day 126

I hate to say it but I really don't remember what happened on Thursday. It's terrible but I don't....I think I slept in late and lounged around all day then went and ate mexican food with my family and dropped my brother at the theater for the play he's in...hmm...hope that's it.

Day 125

Ah how I do love sleeping in my bed. Unfortunately I couldn't sleep in as late as I would have wanted. I had to go to church to help the secretary with our new church directory. So after I went by the library & picked out 6 books. I LOVE reading...love it. I haven't had much time during the school year but now that I'm done I have a chance to take a break & read. So getting home I grabbed a Ted Dekker book & settled down to read. I read some outside until I got too hot then I read in the air conditioned house. Nice relaxing day. :)

Day 124

Tuesday I had moved back home but I had a QuadWorks meeting so I had to go back to campus. The meeting went well then I went & hung out with my boyfriend for a bit. I was going to head on home but he wanted to get a group together to go bowling. So bowling was a lot of fun with everybody. :) I had my camera with me and while spending time on campus my boyfriend wanted to go play soccer...so while he played I took pictures...& in this case for my photo-of-the-day I photographed the light post against the clouds. :)

Day 123.

"A...B...C. Easy as 1...2...3." :)

Hehe I do love music. Anyways....finally caught up to today! So today I woke up, had breakfast with my boyfriend & studied during breakfast for my final (& he for his). I only had one final this semester & it was today! So, though I had a 3 hour slot, I only needed 1 hour for my Old Testament exam (do not think I rushed dear reader but let me tell you that is all the test took for it was the length of a normal test which only takes 1 hour.) So finished with that, I napped for an hour, took a few last pictures of my dorm in its normal messy state, printed my final freshman lit class essay, turned in my essay, had lunch, had supper a mere hour later with family, friend, & boyfriend, finished packing, moved all of my stuff out to our vehicles in the pouring rain (thanks guys!!), signed out with my RA, said my goodbyes, & finally drove home. Whew! So yup now I'm at home, chilling in my bed. My goodness....it's HUGE! I am happy to be home though I'll miss everybody greatly. It has been a wonderful year. I have grown & changed a lot (hopefully for the better of course). I have made wonderful new friends who I hope to keep in contact with for many many years to come. I would be more sentimental but I must admit I am quite tired so nighty night world. :))

Day 122

Sunday May 2nd. Study study study day! After studying a couple of hours I got a hankering for either ice-cream or a frappuccino from Starbucks (oh how I love 'em). So I texted my boyfriend & he and I (and his study parter) went to Starbucks to get a refreshment. My mouth is always watering when I go into Starbucks because of the wonderful looking pastries they have on display. Well I gave into the temptation and bought a red velvet cupcake. My goodness was it ever amazing. The Icing was incredibly rich & the cake was moist. Ah I could eat another in a heart beat. Anyways...it was a study break well spent. ;)

Day 121

Saturday May first. Oh how I love summer :). Campus has been so pretty with the trees & grass becoming green & the weather has been oh-so-lovely with the warmth. Dresses & shorts all day long! My kind of weather. Anyways. Saturday was full of sleep for me. I slept late then woke up didn't feel amazing & went back to sleep. Haha there went the day....anyways after I woke up the second time I went to photograph my best friend & her prom group from my high school. My college is very close to my high school so it worked out quite well. My friends were quite beautiful & I was happy to take their pictures. The picture I chose is a somewhat candid shot. My friend was smelling her flowers & the sun was right behind her so I told her to freeze so I could take a picture. I took it & she said that she had a hard time keeping a serious face. You can't tell it though because it is a beautiful picture of her! :)

Day 120

Almost May first! Hard to believe. It was a sad day of sorts. It was the first day that somebody moved out of the dorms to head home for summer break. But first I had classes: I luckily only had one official class at 9:00. Then I had a piano lesson at 10:30 before my jury at 4:00. All went well and as I was walking back to my dorm I tried to look for a picture. I had seen roses while walking to McCorkle Music building so I headed there. Oh my were they pretty. I took bunches of pictures. :) Once I got to my dorm, me along with my other friends had to help move out my friend Bekah. Her mom was there & so it was a nice day to see everybody. After we got her moved out, I went home for the evening to take family pictures for the new church directory. My brother is an extra in the play put on in town: FIddler on the Roof; so we went to see a performance after pictures. My boyfriend tagged along & I am very glad he came with me though I know he had to have been bored stiff. So thanks Alex, it meant a lot. :)

Day 119

The next to last day of April - Thursday the 29th - was a busy day. Though I only had 1 class, I had to prepare information for my final education seminar that afternoon. Though once finished, I didn't have much to do. My school has a very good grounds staff so our campus is always neat & pretty looking. Our school colors are black & orange so we had some new flowers planted recently that were a lovely orange. So walking past them I took their picture. Gotta love school spirit! :)