Day 179

Today has been a pretty good Monday. I woke up at 5:45 to bid farewell to my dad and brother (and friends) as they left to drive to Alabama. They were taking a large collection of books & clothes to some shipping place to later be sent to India. They're coming home today, too, so that's a long drive. After, mom and I went running. I ran around the neighborhood and mom ran a 4 mile loop around town. I'm trying to get back in shape and this is the first step! After running, I cooled off and read some of my edu chapter for today then showered and repeated the reading process while my hair was air drying some. After I got ready, I headed to work. Work went good as usual and it stormed a little in the middle of the day...but you couldn't tell it had poured so hard once the sun came back out. When I left work, it wasn't raining so I was glad about that. I went by the bookstore on Mercer's campus because I was going to buy some books for next semester but it was an orientation day so I left without even parking because I didn't want to deal with the masses of freshman and company. I got home and have sense been relaxing and watching TV with my mom. The picture today is of a button zinnia that my mom grew! I really really really want a macro lens but I'm making due with what I have now. :)

Day 178

Today was an ordinary Sunday. I woke up, showered, got ready while watching Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (with Ty Pennington), and put on my new dress! My mom and dad really liked it and I enjoyed wearing it. Sunday school was full and the lesson was good as always. After "big church", mom, Caleb, and I headed home. Mom fixed dinner while I sat and talked with her. We ate and I settled down to read a chapter for my edu class...this was about Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing special education students. I thought I was just going to read half of it then but I was able to read the whole thing at once! After, I sat and watched TV with my mom for a little bit then it was time to find something to photograph! I went outside (man is it hot) and I eventually wandered over to a butterfly bush growing on by our mailbox. I saw bumble bees on the bush so I set about trying to photograph one...I had to get right up on those bees because my lens is in the hospital ( =[ ). I would've gotten better with my usual lens but I'm happy with what I got! :)

Day 177

Well Saturday morning came too early. We woke up before 7:00 and were off to go pick blueberries. Why so early you may ask? Well...my family has picked berries for years and blueberries take forever and a day to pick...well at least to pick a good amount. So if you want to get a large number of blueberries, start early. Our goal was 4 gallons so we got started at 7:45. The light was beautiful that morning so I stopped ever so often to take pictures. The photo-of-the-day was one of the first pictures I took at the blueberry farm and I know it isn't of berries, but I just love it! I was the slowest to fill my gallon bucket as always so dad helped me finish filling it up. We got home and spread all of them out and they covered a lot of counter space! I got on facebook and Alex was online so I got to chat him some. :) Dad found the receipt of purchase for my camera lens so I made a run to the post office to ship off my precious package. Fingers crossed for a quick repair! After eating lunch, I took a long, much needed nap. After I woke up, Alex was online again so I got to talk to him for a little while which was nice. I went to bed about 10 last night just because I was tired! Good day though, good day. :)

Day 176

Friday was a good day. I did not have work so I went to church to help with VBS. I did not focus on taking pictures but I had to make a slideshow to show to the kids at the closing lunch. I tried multiple attempts to make a DVD of the pictures as a slideshow to put on a TV but nothing worked. Right as I was giving up, a youth from church helped me to set up a projector and screen to show the pictures on. I think the kids had a great week of VBS and hopefully they enjoyed their pictures. :) I was suppose to talk to Alex online but facebook was being funky so we couldn't talk. After, mom dad & I put a pizza in the oven and rented some movies from Ingles. We watched When In Rome that night & it was really cute! I recommend it. :)

Day 175

Today was a full day. I told myself I was going to run this morning but when I woke up at 6 I convinced myself otherwise and slept a little later. I woke up, got dressed, and headed off to church. On the way, I realized that I had forgotten to put on my thumb drive a picture my parents wanted printed. At church, I took pictures of the VBS kids (which was annoying because of my little lens). After, I went back home and put the picture onto the thumb drive. I went straight to Coke's (back in downtown Macon) and gave the file of the picture to the man working there to print it. Straight after, I went and probably bought the first meal served at Zaxby's...apparently they open at 11:00...who knew? Then I went to the office for work. Whew. I worked the final 4 hours of my 20 how work week. After that, I went and picked up the picture. It is going to be a gift to a person from our church. She told me one day that she just loved the picture of mine of the cardinal in the snow trees...I took that back in January! Anyways, she had done us a big favor this week (letting Caleb spend the night a few nights) so this is the "thank you". I got it printed as an 8x10 but I thought I said 5x7. Oh well, it looks really good and didn't cost much. I then went to Target (it took me a loong time and many round-abouts on the way) and bought a puzzle for the beach and a frame for the picture. Then I went to Ross and found a dress! Yay! Getting home finally I put the picture in the frame and it looks really good. I got some cereal and read a facebook message from my boyfriend...I miss him. Now it's about time for me to work on homework!

Day 174

So today has been an interesting day. I woke up, showered, and took Caleb to church to help with VBS. I started my picture routine again but this time things went very wrong. My lens messed up and I couldn't zoom in any more. So that has caused lots of stress for me today. I left church and went to Coke's Camera downtown Macon and the man said I needed to call Sigma and send the lens back to the company to get fixed. We have to provide the receipt of purchase to prove warranty info but I haven't been able to find that yet. So I'm really stressed about that. I hate not having that good zoom lens. I have an 18-55 mm lens at home but that's nothing compared to 200 mm. Work was fine then I went and walked around the mall. Now I'm home bored and lonely. Alex is in England until July 10th and so I can't talk to him much at all. At least I have other good friends to talk to. :)

Day 173

Yesterday, Tuesday June 22, was my first day to go back to work in Macon in a while. Before hand though, I took pictures of my church's VBS. It was good to be back in the office, I'd missed my office buddies :). After getting home and supper, Caleb decided it was time for everybody to drive his car. So we went out to the recreation department on the outskirts of town and I drove his car for the first time. I did pretty good for not having driven a stick shift in two years. I stalled out once and I spun the tires twice (much to my brother's fright). I did get to gun the engine once and I freaked my mom out but I didn't do any damage and it was fun. :) I love summer time with the family!

Day 172

Ah Monday came too early as it always does. I was back to Taliaferro but only for Monday since my boss decided he needed me more in Macon than at the camps (which suits me fine). So I met my boss at a car rental place in Macon and I rode with him in the car just to check up on week number two at camp. It was a long trip (about 2 hours) but my boss entertained us by talking the whole time haha. After a bit at the school, we went to tell my hosts from the previous week goodbye (I printed them off a picture of their house and left it for them to find :]). Riding home was another long trip and my boss continued to talk (though I was not fully aware of what he said for about half an hour...woops. I drove home from the car rental happy to be home!

Day 171

Sunday! Father's Day 2010. Church and Sunday School went as good as usual. I met a girl who is going to attend Mercer next year. (Her grandmother is a member of our church.) It was good to talk to her about mercer, she seemed to be excited about her time there. After church we all changed clothes and dad opened his presents (a Mercer baseball cap & a breakfast cook book) and we were off to the movies. We watched The Karate Kid and it was really really good! I recommend it to everybody. Before the movie I had made plans with two of my friends from school. We decided to meet up Sunday night and just have a little girls' night in Macon. So after a nice afternoon with the family, I was off to where my friend is staying for the summer in Macon. This house she's staying in is such a cute little house! And it's only the extra house! Anyways, we had a nice evening just sitting and talking about life. :) The picture for today was when I was walking around outside with my mom and brother when my mom watered the little plants she's growing...you know those topsy turvy pots? My mom has some tomato and cucumbers growing and they're actually getting pretty big!

Day 170

Today is still early but we've already done lots! I woke up at 6:40 to get ready and eat breakfast before our family was off to pick blackberries from the farm where we pick strawberries. We got there as soon as the farm opened. I took pictures of sunflowers growing and of two adorable baby goats. We picked three full gallons, me taking pictures along the way, and got some yummy blackberry ice cream. Now back at home I'm ready for a nap!

Day 169

Friday!! My first job of the day was to help in the gym activity for the kids. Except this time we were outside. It was a neat little activity, somebody found this stuff called Yuck and felt like bits of Jello but did not leave any residue or scent on your hands. So it was basically water with a neat feel to it. Anyways, we put Yuck into buckets with about 6 items in it which the kids divided up into teams and had a relay race to find the items in a certain order. They said the Yuck was gross but they all loved it and had a lot of fun. After lunch, I helped set up a slide show of the pictures I'd taken during the week and helped leader Hannah teach the kids about communion. Afterwards, I asked if I was needed to help with week two of Touching Taliaferro With Love. They told me no and I got my hopes up about being able to stay home but then they said nope I was needed to be a buddy (a leader to go around with one of the groups). This means I'll definitely be busy all next week. But it was time to go home for a few days! It was a long two hour drive home but it was nice to be back. We watched Book of Eli after a yummy supper of fish and rice. It was an interesting movie, very deep. I talked to Alex for a while before bed...he's off to England/Spain Saturday for a few weeks. I'll miss him but he'll have fun. :)

Day 168

Thursday! I had two important jobs so I was not looking for anything to do. Before lunch, I helped in the gym where the kids played twister. It was a long time, each of the 5 groups spent about 30 minutes in the gym and we had to control them...twister wasn't their favorite game haha. After lunch, I helped in the art room where the kids made "prayer beads" which consisted of them cutting out pre-printed prayers, gluing these prayers to triangles of paper, stapling them in a circle (making them look like beads) and putting them on a string to tie into a necklace. So the helpers had to help this process along a lot and once again it was a long time spent repeating this process 5 times. This was the last night I was spending in Taliaferro for the week and I was very much looking forward to going home for the weekend.

Day 167

Wednesday turned out to be a little bit more productive. I wandered around a little bit taking pictures before settling down to socialize with some other workers. After lunch, I was sent to help work in a classroom. I helped a man with a special activity for the kids. There were six stations of food (apple, banana, cheese crackers, graham cracker, pretzel, and celery) that the kids were to "decorate" with peanut butter and all were to take part eating this treat. I was definitely needed to help so I was glad to be where I was needed. Since I'm taking an online class this summer I was in great need of internet access. If you hadn't already guessed, Taliaferro County is in the middle of no where. I have to fight to find service at the house I was staying and of course there is no wireless...they only had dial up. I took the opportunity Wednesday night to travel to Athens (an hour away) so I could submit my homework for the week. FBC Athens provided workers for week number one at camp and their interim youth minister offered me a bed for the night in Athens so I could have a chance to use internet. (The funny thing is her name is Hannah too so her husband must've had a very confusing time knowing who to talk to when he said "Hannah"). I was glad of the opportunity to have internet but I tell you...it sure is a pain having the need for internet and having to drive an hour to find it.

Day 166

Tuesday - aka TTWL Day 2. I started off day number two by being at the school at 7:30 to prepare for camp. I still only had photography as my job so I wandered around into all of the classrooms taking pictures of the different break out groups. The students had a special treat because a church from North Carolina sent a middle school choir/handbell group to come perform during the camp day. The concert went well and I hope the kids enjoyed it. I ended up taking nearly 400 pictures on Tuesday and I was beginning to discover that only taking pictures left me bored and sitting around doing nothing. Once I got "home" from camp day 2, I took pictures of the house where I was staying. This was where my boss's sister-in-law grew up. It's a log cabin and they have fixed it up and added on a room. It's a nice house so I enjoyed taking pictures of it.

Day 165

Monday was a busy day. I started the day off early and was in Macon at starbucks at 9:00 am ready to head to Taliaferro County. I was heading here to be a worker at the Touching Taliaferro With Love "camp" for elementary school kids in Taliaferro (which is pronounced "Toliver" if you don't remember that from a previous post). So I followed my boss (he was going to check in on the first day) and I wandered around the host school a little to take pictures. Photographer was my given job so I was excited about this job. After a couple of hours at the camp site, I followed my boss to his brother's house 15 minutes from the school where I was to be staying the week. My host couple is extremely friendly and I enjoyed spending time with them. So I settled into bed after supper and prepared for day number two of camp.

Day 164

Sunday June 13. My birthday should be more than officially over by now but it is not! No reader, it is not. :) Sunday morning church though wasn't focused on me. The Sunday morning worship service was focused on our youth choir and their home concert for Choir Tour 2010. They did very good, though I still think their first "on tour" concert was better....they were probably just nervous here. At the end, the choir director called all of the alumnae up to the stage to sing a song we all could sing in our sleep (Bless His Holy Name). He has made us sing that song every year, except for this one strangely enough, for years. It is a nice little, simple, a cappella tune that is easily sung in restaurants as a blessing or some other strange location where a piano is no where to be seen. Anyways...I piled up with the rest of the past choir members and I enjoyed that little time of memories. My grandmother attended this home concert and after church we went home so we could change clothes before heading into Macon. It was time for my birthday dinner at Red Lobster!! Yay! Yes it was quite yummy. I had a nice salad, amazing cheese biscuits, and grilled scallops and shrimp scampi. After we went and talked with my grandmother at her house for about an hour before heading to the movies. We met some other church folk there and we watched The A-Team. I was looking forward to it, and though the beginning made me wary, I ended up enjoying it quite a bit. I'll probably watch it again once it comes out on DVD. Anyways, so I think I must finally say goodbye to my 18th birthday...how sad. It was lovely and it is nice to say that I'm finally 18 but I'm sad it went by so fast.

Day 163

Today was a good day, too. I woke up about 9:00 because Cecilia had to head out early to a soccer game. Holly woke up too so we just sat around talking to my mom while she made us a breakfast quiche. Alex woke up on his own, surprisingly and wandered into the kitchen to join us. When it was ready, I woke Rebekah, Blake, and Bonnie up. Luckily for me, I only had to say something and everybody woke up! I didn't expect it to be quite that easy. So we all ate and yummy breakfast and then people packed up to head back home. Alex stayed a little bit later and watched some of the World Cup game that was on. He got packed up and I finally had to tell him goodbye after a long week with him at my house. Sadly, I won't be able to see him again until the end of July because I am going to Taliaferro County for 2 weeks, then he's going to England for 3 weeks, and my family is going to the beach for a week the day he gets back. So this will be a long time apart but we'll make it. :)

Day 162

Friday June 11, 2010. I woke up at 9:00 and showered. Alex woke up then too because it was the first day of the 2010 World Cup. South Africa played Mexico and they tied 1-1. Afterwards, Caleb, Alex, & I were off into town to run some errands to prepare for my party later that day. We went to the church and got a couple of coolers and filled them up with ice. Then we went to Ingles to pick up a few things. Getting back, we put the drinks in the coolers but discovered we had to go back to church to get another cooler. So after that trip we were set. My mom was working on fixing the food to eat...she made macaroni and cheese, a broccoli salad, and a cookie birthday cake. I made a chip dip to be an appetizer. I did the final cleaning of my room and then we sat to wait for people to come. Another World Cup game was on and during it, Blake was my first friend to arrive. After the game ended, all 6 of us at the house (me, mom, dad, caleb, blake, & alex) went outside and played badminton. It was so hot outside that we became drenched in sweat. It was time to get into the pool! While we were cooling off, Cecilia arrived. So I sat around with her and talked some. Traffic was terrible coming south on 175 so it took a while longer than expected for those affected to get to my house. Rebekah was next, then Holly. We were all in the pool and enjoying the water on the hot day. Bonnie, Emily, & Jason got to the house and the people who could come were here! We enjoyed each others company and played badminton and swam in the pool. Supper was delicious and I had a lot of fun taking pictures of people hanging around. The dessert was even better and I got to open my presents. Afterwards, we played a game of Apples to Apples (which I won) and got so tired we decided it was time for bed. Getting ready we settled into our separate rooms (girls & guys) but the guys who could spend the night didn't want to go to bed so we all sat up and talked for about 2 more hours. It was quite funny how delirious everybody was getting so we decided the time to sleep had finally arrived. :)

Day 161

My Birthday! June 10, 2010. I was born June 10, 1992 at 1:03 in the afternoon weighing 8 pounds 3 ounces and was 20 1/4 inches tall. Hard to believe that I am now 18 years old. I woke up and showered. I went and talked to my mom and we looked at my baby albums. Then we cooked cinnamon rolls and the whole family (minus caleb) and Alex ate the yummy tradition. Then we got ready and headed out to Dauset Trails. I love walking around and looking at the flowers and animals. I think everyone had a good time, which is always nice. Getting home, I finished my homework and took a nap. Alex left for another soccer tryout and we headed to church. The choir was getting home so we had to come welcome them back. So overall, a very good birthday. :)

Day 160

Wednesday June 9th was a good day. My boyfriend was over so we really got to just enjoy each other's company. That night we went out to the high school's soccer field (which is actually at the middle school) so we could kick around a soccer ball for a while. It was pretty enjoyable and I actually didn't do too bad...which is unusual for me. The sun was setting so I got my camera out just to take some shots. I focused on the net in the soccer goal and got some interesting angles. The lighting was really neat against the sun, too.

Day 159

Today was a good day...a very successful one. It is June 8th 2010 & it is 2 days from my birthday! Yay! :) I woke up at 6:15 this morning to go running with my mom. We only ran 1.8 miles but it about killed me, I'm so out of shape. Anyways, once we were done, I rushed to get ready and was at work at 9:15. I worked, with a lunch break, until 5:15 and headed towards home. Today I had another little job where I had to go to a neighbor's house of mine to feed their cat & water the plants. I was still dressed in my shirt & skirt & heels so I was not dressed appropriately for this job. I eventually took my heels off because I had to go wander and find the hose in the back yard and then yank & pull on it to get it untangled and to the plants I needed to water. Even with all of this trouble, I succeeded and made it home, although hot & sweaty, to a lovely supper of waffles & peaches. Then I finished cleaning my room and loaded my pictures from my neighbor's house. There are these flowers my neighbor is always growing & I love them!! They're so pretty...unfortunately they were kind of wilty but I still got their picture. I'm excited because in a little over an hour, my boyfriend will be at my house! He's at soccer tryouts now but once he gets here, he'll be here until Saturday. :)

Day 158

Today, June 7th 2010, was a long day. I woke up at 7:30 and was off to work at 8:30. So I worked for eight hours today. Whew and it was a long day. I continued making charts and reading bulletins. It's tough but the work is good experience and it could be going a lot worse. So I got home about 5:30 and talked more details of my party with my parents. I'm getting really excited, it's going to be a fun weekend with my college buddies & of course I'm excited about my birthday. :) We ate a yummy supper...pasta, green beans, muffins, & pork chop. Looking out the window during supper, I saw that the sun was shining through our plum tree in the front yard making the leaves a brilliant red. So I wandered out there with my camera & got some pictures that I really like. :)

Day 157

Today was a pretty typical Sunday. I woke up, showered, went to Sunday school and then, as we used to call it, to "big church". We went out to eat at this little restaurant a little ways off from town with a very sweet man from our church. So I ate some good southern food and we headed home all wanting a nap. I read 1/4 of my 2nd chapter for homework and crashed for an hour and a half...woops. Haha oh well, it was a lovely nap. I woke up and read another 1/4 and we left for the movies! My parents & I saw Killers...it was an alright movie. Not exactly what I expected but I haven't pegged my feelings on it quite yet. So I am still reading my special ed text book, currently about emotional or behavioral disorders aka EBD, and I had to take a picture. I didn't know what to do so I looked around my messy room and spotted my teddy bear. I love this teddy bear and I have had it since Valentine's Day 5th grade. That's a long time you might think. Well yes it is but that is the very first present I was given by a boy. Matt I think was his name and he put it in a box, probably with chocolate, and set it on my desk. I wasn't at school that valentine's day but I got it the next day and was a little surprised/embarrassed/tickled to get it. Matt wanted to be my boyfriend and had asked me out in a little note (or so I think he did...). I talked it over with my mom, and since we were moving that summer, I wrote him a reply saying I don't want to be your girlfriend or something along those lines with a school picture of me. I wish I could see it now haha. So I've kept the bear and still sleep with it every night. I just love remembering sweet memories. :)

Day 156

Today is Saturday June the 5th. It is so hard to believe that June is already half way through the first week! I still feel like it should be May. But I'm not complaining because my birthday is June the 10th so it's almost my birthday! :) I wanted to sleep in today but I did not allow myself because I knew I had a long to-do list ahead of me. I needed to get a good head start on my assignment for my online class this week because Tuesday my boyfriend is coming over to spend a few days with me. While he's here, why would I want to focus on homework? I also had to start cleaning my room because he is coming and then next Friday I am having a birthday party with my friends from school. Since they're going to be at my house I have to make things look presentable. So I got one chapter of my text book read and a good head start on my room. It is still full of junk piles but it's definitely better than before. My first focus on my room was my bed-side table so I figured I'd let that by my photo-of-the-day. :)

Day 155

Yesterday was Friday and I had to go back to work. Not that I don't enjoy work or anything but I just had to wake up earlier than I would have liked. So I went in and continued on my project of making graphs to later be presented to church's about their giving to certain organizations, such as the one I work for. But beyond that, I know you probably don't want to hear, it was the weekend and I came home ready to relax. We had a lightning storm last week and it apparently fried our Direct TV cable. So the TV man was at our house to try to fix things. He was suppose to come between 8 and 12 but as it always works, he didn't get there until 3. So when I got home after 4 (in my drive home I had to battle a storm & lots of water on the road...not fun) the TV man was still there working on the satellite and cables and the such. Poor man - he had to work out in the rain and crawl under our house but at least he knew what he was doing, I could never do anything like that. Once he left, our family headed to Ingles to pick up some movies to watch this weekend. You could tell my brother wasn't home because all of the movies we rented were chick flicks: Leap Year, Dear John, & Valentine's Day. We watched Leap Year because it was the only one of the three I hadn't seen and I did really enjoy it. :) I'm not really sure my reasoning behind the picture for yesterday, I just remember liking the light on the kitchen table and the lovely colors.

Day 154

Thursday was the long trip home. I got bored & cramped in the car but I suppose every vehicle would have done that, too. I finished reading Eclipse the third book in the Twilight series again...I have read those book so many times. Once we got home, I was very happy to be out of the car. Unfortunately, I couldn't immediately relax because I had to finish up my online class assignment. I have decided that if I can ever help it again, I will NEVER take another class online during the summer. I'm just not in the mood! Anyways back to the picture. Somebody at the my dad's home church had made these little crosses for everybody. There were extras, so my parents & I all were given one. It reminds me of once on my choir tour years when a sweet woman made every person a little ceramic dove which she hung from white ribbon. I can see it now hanging on my dresser and I just love how sweet people can be, asking nothing in return. :)

Day 153

Wednesday was a very exciting day for our church's youth choir. Every year, they go on a choir tour and travel somewhere in the continental US. I have been on 6 of these choir tours, seventh grade through twelfth grade. Our final destinations were Washington, D.C, California, Pennsylvania, Key West, New York, and San Antonio. I loved each and every one of the trips and am sad that I would not be attending this one to Virginia. My brother is still in the choir, having just finished the 9th grade. So my whole family & I got up before I ever wanted to and headed to the church to bid adieu to the choir. Instead of just saying goodbye, my parents & I piled in my brother's car and followed the bus. Why might you ask? Well, the first destination was in North Carolina at my father's home church in his home town where his family still lives. We were going to try to surprise my grandparents, but though that didn't end up working out, we were still looking forward to the visit. So the ride was long, 6.5 to 7 hours. We got into the town that evening and ate supper at my grandparent's house and went to listen to the concert. The choir did a very good job, better than they had done at the pre-tour concert the previous Sunday. That next morning we told the choir goodbye, along with my brother, and said long goodbyes to my dad's friends and family and we headed back to Georgia. :)

Day 152

Tuesday did not feel like tuesday. Monday was memorial day so I had off from work. Tuesday was also just one of the two days that I was going to work because I was making a trip with my family to & from North Carolina Wednesday & Thursday but more about that later. I went to work and worked about 6 hours. Came home and it had rained during the day while I was at work. So since I didn't have some huge inspiration for a picture-of-the-day, I used the wet deck as a prop. I grabbed my rainboots and played around with them on the deck...with their reflection in the water and stuff like that. I really like this picture because of the layout and the pop of red in an otherwise dull picture. :)