Day 209

Today has been pretty good. I slept in a little bit and actually got to work a little early! I continued work I had been doing for the last few days. I think that I've gotten the hang of it and now it's kind of slow and boring. But it is necessary. I went out to lunch with 3 of my co-workers. We went to Acapulco in downtown Macon. I'd eaten there once with Alex & his family before and this time it all tasted good again. We sat and talked for a while and it's nice that we can do that...I love that everybody in our office gets along so well. :) The last couple of hours back at work went by slow but I got some entertainment when it started thundering and raining. I headed home and watched the tail end of Opera (she talked to Adam Lambert and Susan Boyle). Dad is at church for the Wednesday night service & Mom drove Caleb to his soccer practice. So I'm home alone for now! I had thought about what to do for a picture today and I thought of this little angle figurine and thought it would be a neat subject. I wandered around my house & front porch and ended up with this picture. I like it and it's nothing like I've taken before. So, I'm off to finds something interesting on TV...good evening folks! :)

Day 208

Today was a good day. I woke up, showered and got ready, and was off to work. It was good to see everybody again today after my long weekend with my wonderful boyfriend. I still feel like today should be Monday but I guess I can't complain since it's that much closer to Friday! After leaving work, I headed home to find mom and dad almost running out of the door to pick up Caleb from driver's ed so they could ferry him to soccer practice. I sat down and watched Opera while I waited for my friend Angela to make it to my house after she got out of work. Opera was about people discovering who their ancestors are. Genealogy has always interested me but I have never put in the time or effort to make my family tree. These famous people who Opera followed went on journeys to the other side of the globe to discover family members they never knew they had. I can only wish that the average population had that chance. Angela made it to my house after the Opera show went off and the two of us were off to Macon for a movie night. First we went to Kohl's and though I didn't plan on trying anything on, much less buying, I found this adorable little dress for $15 that I couldn't resist. :) Angela was successful, too, & we then went and ate at Krystal. The movie we went to watch was Despicable Me. I had heard great reviews from friends and I wanted to see it for myself. Oh my goodness I loved it so much! It's funny and heartwarming all at the same time. Ah...just great. :) Leaving the theater, we saw the most gorgeous sunset I have seen in a very long time. Wow. I unfortunately did not have my camera but as I saw on my favorite photography website, don't get depressed if you see something spectacular and can't photograph it - just enjoy it for what it is! I did just that, staring at the sky the whole way home (Angela was driving so that was alright). Seeing such beauty makes me thank God for my amazing life & for this beautiful world we live in. Angela dropped me off at home and the family & I watched the premier of a new Gordon Ramsey show - Master Chef. I like Hell's Kitchen so this was interesting too. Now it is time to get ready for bed because another day at work awaits me bright & early. Goodnight world! =]

Day 207

Ah I love catching up with the blog. I feel better if I can write the blog the day of the picture but that doesn't always happen. Anyways, so today I woke up and had to pack up everything to leave Alex's. After I packed, I showered and headed upstairs for a brunch. Alex made nachos & I made a sandwich. I didn't want to leave but it was time to so about 12:30 I was headed towards home. There was a ton of traffic on 400 not quite stop & go but almost. I got home in about 2 hours and I was glad to be home. No one was there but, as I figured out, they were all out doing their own thing. Mom and Dad came home not long after because they had to go pick up Caleb from driver's ed and take him to soccer practice. I started a load of laundry and watched some TV. I went outside to take pictures when the sun was just beginning to sink beneath the clouds so there was still plenty of light. The cats came out as usual so I petted them for a few minutes. I tried to take pictures of them but they preferred me petting them. I went back inside and watched some more TV and bought the rest of my books for school...and boy are they ever expensive. My parents called when Caleb's practice was done and that was my direction to start preparation for supper. Pork chop had been in the crock pot all day but I had to fix the green beans & pasta. We have a difficult can opener so I had trouble for longer than I should have but none the less, I was successful. Once my family got home, it wasn't long before supper was ready & served. After clean up, we went to the family room and watched an interesting new episode of Lie To Me (I love this show =]). Now I have folded my clothes and wasted too much time on my new pointless activity (FrontierVille on facebook). I'm tired but thankfully that the air-conditioning has been fixed so I can sleep in my own bed. I've got work tomorrow of course but then a movie with a friend from high school, which will be fun. I must say, life is good. :)

Day 206

Sunday July 25th. I woke up and showered and joined Alex and his Dad watching a Formula 1 Race. I wasn't really interested so I played on my phone and held Alex's hand. We ate a late breakfast and then Alex and I headed off into town to make reservations at the bowling alley. After, we kinda just drove around town and he showed me the town square. We kept driving and we went to Lake Lanier. We stopped and walked to the shore to look out over the water. It was so pretty out there and the water was such a pretty blue. We got back in the car and found a road that led to the river that fed into the Buford Dam. It was really pretty and the water looked nice and refreshing. It was very hot outside though so we didn't stay very long. We headed back to the house and everybody got ready to head out to go bowling. The whole family went so it was a fun outing. We played 3 games and I didn't do so bad! Game 1: 84, Game 2: 99, Game 3: 116! Plus I got a strike every game, and 2 the final game. I never won but my scores were good and we had a fun time. :)

Day 205

Saturday! I woke up and ate breakfast with Alex. Then, we headed out with his brother to Helen, GA. We wanted to go tubing down the river and it was a perfect day for that. Well, apparently we had the same notion as everybody else. Driving to the drop off point, the river was full of people in tubes and the line to get tubes and into the river, was extremely long. We had originally decided to go to Anna Ruby Falls after riding the tubes down the river but we changed our minds and headed to Anna Ruby Falls instead. I had visited Anna Ruby with Alex's family the first time I met them so it's hard to believe that 9 months have passed! It was pretty as ever but it was also very crowded. We decided to head on back to the house instead of doing anything else because it had started thundering and looked like a storm was coming. Will & I fell asleep and poor Alex was left to drive (he was ok though...he loves to drive). Another fun day with Alex & his family!

Day 204

Waking up Friday morning, it was just me, Alex, and his sister around the house. We went to Ichiban (I think that's right - it's a hibachi grill) and ate lunch. It was yummy. We drove around a little bit and went back to the house. That night, everybody gathered again for supper. Alex's brother had visited UGA with his mom so he was very excited and going on and on about going to college. I remember those days. :) Sorry these blogs are so short...I'm not doing much other than just enjoying Alex's company.

Day 203

Thursday - July 22, 2010 - was a very exciting day for me. I woke up from sleeping on the couch, showered, and finished packing my stuff to take to Alex's house! I was leaving the house by 9:30 and I had arrived at the designated location by 11:00. There was some road work going on so Alex had to come meet me at a gas station to lead me to his house. It was great to finally see him and hug him once I got to his house. We really just sat around and talked and enjoyed spending time with each other for the first bit of time there. Then we went to go and watch Inception at the movies. Alex had seen it the night before but wanted to see it again and since I was interested, we decided to go. It was funny because I told my parents that I was going to see it and ironically they had just gotten out of seeing Inception themselves! After Alex and I got out of the theater, my mind was blown. Wow. It is a really good movie but so deep that I want to see it again! I don't think any number of times seeing it can fully explain it though. We got back to the house and enjoyed a yummy supper with Alex's family. :) Great day number 1 with Alex!

Day 202

Today has been a full day. I woke up, showered, and was off to work. I worked another full day and after work (finishing up my 20 hours of the week), I headed to Target. I looked at the clothes and tried on a few things though nothing grabbed me enough to buy. I went to the shoe section and found a cute pair of brown flats! I wasn't sure if I wanted to buy them yet or not so I just held onto them and walked around a little more. We had been looking for Julie & Julia on DVD so we could have a family night with my grandmother and watch it. So, since Target normally has a large movie collection, I went and looked for J&J. I found it so I thought I'd buy it. I decided to get the shoes, too, so I checked out and was finally off towards home. I came home to an empty house (I'm "all by myseelf" tonight) and Mom said she couldn't find a library book. So I found it and went to drop it off in town quickly (in case it was due) and I treated myself with a strawberry shake from Burger King. I heated up some left over brunswick stew for something real to eat. I ran around doing random things that I can't think of what they were now so when I actually ate my stew, it was cold but none the less, it still tasted good. I put in the Julie & Julia movie and tried to sit down and watch it. A storm came up, and so my dog went crazy scratching the windows as he always does so I was trying to yell at him to stop. I eventually tied him up and called and talked to Alex for a little bit on the phone. Oh ha I forgot. Another troubling instance is that the air conditioning decided to stop working upstairs. So I am going to have to sleep downstairs on the couch...lovely. Anyways, I hung up with Alex and gathered together (started the process really) the stuff I'll take tomorrow. Tomorrow morning I am off to visit Alex! It has been over a month since I've seen him and boy do I miss him. I'm staying until Monday so it's going to be a great weekend. He was getting onto me about not packing yet (joking of course) so he should be proud with my progress. :) Once it got too hot upstairs to do anything else, I came back down and restarted J&J...well back to where I really stopped watching and I have just finished it. I love this movie and story. It is such a neat love story I can't help but cry out of happiness at the end. Ah. :) Now I'm beginning to get sleepy and comfortable on the couch so I will be going to sleep soon. Goodnight my dear readers.

Day 201

Today, July 20, 2010, has been a good day. I woke up at 6:30 and ran around the neighborhood. At 9:00, I was off to work and I wore my new American Eagle skirt. I worked on a number of things in the office and most important of all, I had a crash course to learn some of the software. In my work during the school year I'll be using it a lot so it's important to learn. It is a lot of info so questions and practice will help a lot. I got home about 5:30 and sat and talked with mom for a little bit. Caleb and Dad were off to Atlanta to watch a Braves game for one of Caleb's friend's birthday party. Mom and I went to the mexican restaurant in town and enjoyed some yummy food and each other's company. Right before we left, I saw Haleigh and Lauren (friends from high school) and so we talked for a little bit, which was nice. After supper, mom and I walked around the neighborhood so I could take some pictures. It was so hot and humid that we were sweaty once we got back inside. Then we watched Post Grad. It's a pretty cute movie...it ended quite suddenly though. Now, I'm typing the blog and going to get ready for bed soon. :)

Day 200

Today is Day 200 of my Project 365! Hard to believe! Well, it is July 19th, 2010. I woke up at 7:00 and was off to work at 9:00. I chatted with a couple of my co-workers and started on my work. I finished up at 2:30 and headed home. I was excited to get home because I knew that all of the mail that had gathered at the post office during our vacation was to be delivered! I just love getting mail. :) I got in and I had a few pieces of junk but a few good pieces of mail. My American Eagle clothes came in and I got a letter from my boyfriend!! It was extra special because he sent it to me when he was in England so it had been sent across the ocean and had English stamps. He was really sweet because it had postcards in it from all of the places he had visited while in England and Spain. That made me very happy. My clothes also fit so that was also good! After that, I went outside and washed my car with the help of my family. They had washed their cars earlier so it was time for mine. Now all 4 of our cars are clean & shiny! After, I took pictures of the postcards Alex sent me and put an old toy car I had on top of it. It's cool because it was an old VW bug and that's the car that I drive! :) We ate brunswick stew for supper and it was yummy. Now, relaxation for the rest of the evening! :)

Day 199

Today I woke up to the light of the bathroom and sound of the shower. It's tough to sleep late in a hotel room but since I went to bed at 10, waking up at 7 was no problem. After convincing myself to get out of bed, I showered and once everyone had done so, we went to the hotel lobby for breakfast. They had a pretty good selection. I ate a sausage biscuit, 2 boiled eggs, a few french toast sticks, and orange juice. We packed up our stuff (which wasn't much because we had packed overnight bags) and loaded the vehicles again for the ride home. Mom and I were in the truck and Dad and Caleb were in Caleb's car. So we were off just after 9. We didn't ever stop so we arrived at home around 11:30. It was a pleasant drive, Mom and I talked the whole way about a large number of topics, and I would guess Caleb and Dad did too. It had tried to sprinkle on the trip home, especially once we got close to home. After we got home, we gathered the essentials and went into the house. I went and checked out of the front door, expecting to find my American Eagle clothes, I found that my lens had made it home!! I was really excited so I immediately sat down and unwrapped it and then proceeded to put it back on my camera. Man, I had gotten really used to the small lens so this one feels so heavy in comparison! We sat and watched some TV, just happy to be home, while we ate lunch. Soon, I went out and snapped some shots before the rain hit - which it looked like it was about to. After I came back inside, Caleb & Dad took a nap and I loaded my pictures and talked to Alex briefly. Later, Caleb and I went to Ingles and got some movies to watch: Post Grad, The Bounty Hunter, and The Crazies. We watched The Bounty Hunter first and enjoyed it (I had seen it in theaters while at school) and then we ate a yummy supper of grilled cheese sandwiches and french fries. Now, The Crazies is on and I am not watching. I do not like horror films in the least and I am glad with my decision to sit in the corner and mess around on the computer instead of be scared out of my wits. Caleb has seen this but I think he's just as scared now as Mom and Dad are now. I'm glad to be home and I look forward to seeing my co-workers again tomorrow, but I will miss Jekyll Island. I do believe that Summer Vacation 2010 has officially ended, and believe me, it was a great one. :)

Day 198

Yesterday, we woke up at 6:00...well I woke up then, and then woke everybody else up. We all got dressed and I grabbed my camera and we were off to try to watch the sunrise. We walked to driftwood beach and kind of just walked around waiting for things to happen. I was starting to get anxious that nothing would happen because there was still the very large cloud on the horizon that blocked the sunset on Friday night. As it turned out, the cloud did block all of the beautiful color but I got a neat silhouette of some people walking in front of the golden sun rays. After, we went back to our condo and packed up all of our stuff. After everything was in the vehicles, and we had triple checked that nothing was left inside, we were off to Savannah. We drove probably about an hour or so to get there. Once we had and after we found a parking place, we found riverstreet and went in search of Savannah Sweets. It was so hot outside it took no time at all to start sweating. I made a fool of myself by trying to walk on a slanted walkway in slick shoes so I fell down. I didn't hurt anything (me or my camera) thankfully so we were off again, mom holding my arm to make sure I didn't fall again. We walked into one of the sweet shops, got some samples of pralines, and walked to the next shop. Here, we bought waters, pralines, turtles (gophers there), taffy, some basic candy, and one chocolate covered strawberry for me. Yeah, we got a lot, but it's so yummy, how can't you? So we went back outside and ate a couple of things and drank the water. We went back to our cars and then were off to Newington, Georgia. Newington is the little town where I grew up. (I was actually born in the neighboring town of Statesboro because there was not hospital in Newington.) My dad had called some of his friends still in Newington to gather some people from when we lived there so we could have a little reunion. We left Newington when I was about 3 so I don't remember much at all, but it was still good to see people and tell stories about the good old days. Dad toured the church after we left the gathering and then we went to Statesboro to stay in a hotel before we were off to home.

Day 197

Friday, I was woken up probably at like 6:30. We drove to the bridge that we crossed to get onto Jekyll because my parents & brother wanted to run across it and then back. The bridge is like 1.5 miles itself so the whole loop they ran was about 4 I think. I didn't run it because I wanted to walk the bridge to take pictures. My goodness, I won't be doing that again for a while. So imagine this: there are 4 lanes, 2 going in each direction with a concrete divider in the middle and a little emergency lane on the far ends. HUGE cable-ish things running up above your head holding you and the bridge up and a marsh/river sits a good ways below you. And of course keep in mind the cars that keep flying past you. You can't step too close to the edge or too close to the cars. I was very careful but man I was getting freaked out up there. I would've been just fine if there were no cars I could've walked in the middle haha but i survived and so did mom, dad, and Caleb. After, we came back and ate breakfast. We layered up for the beach and walked on it briefly before high tide hit. Walking on the beach we went to driftwood beach again just by wandering in that direction. We saw some portraits being taken! A photographer had a flash hood set up and we saw from a distance a couple being posed. Gosh I think that's just an amazing place to take engagement pictures (if that's what it was) because it's so pretty and so unique. We sat out at the pool for hours (mom thinks about 7 or so). Then, we went and got into the ocean one last time too just for the sake of it because that's the last time for this trip. Then we went and ate on st simons island at the 4th of may cafe. (Cool name though random). Tt was all-you-can-eat shrimp & fish (grouper then) night. I instead got fried scallops, corn bread, mac & cheese, and black eyed peas. Goodness it was all good. The whole restaurant was basically a small southern cooking for seafood place so I think we'd visit again if we were back here in the future. After eating we were going to see the sunset again but it was kinda a bummer because this huge cloud blocked basically all of the setting sun. Oh well, i got to see some another night. It's sad because Friday was our last full day on Jekyll. I really loved that island...except for the fact that when it was high tide, there was no beach. Otherwise, I'd love to go back!

Day 196

Today has been a somewhat lazy day. I slept until 8:30 and then read my book until around 12:00 once Caleb was awake. I finished my Winter Garden, man that was a good book. The author is really good. We all got ready for the beach but once we headed out it was high tide so back to the pool we went. I laid out a lot getting sun (hopefully) and reading a new book (Second Glance by Jodi Piccult) and jumping into the pool when I got too hot. We chilled out by the pool for a while and eventually went to the ocean once it was low tide. The tide was pretty choppy so we didn't stay out too long. Dad and I came on back into the house and after everybody had showered, we went to eat on Saint Simon's Island again. We ate a Barbara Jean's (a place we'd eaten before on another beach) and I ate "she crab" soup and a crab cake. All was very yummy. I bought some pearl earrings at a local shop (I had lost one of mine =/). We went and tried to watch the sunset off of a pier but it didn't really do much, though what we saw was pretty. :) Tomorrow is the last day on Jekyll Island, it's kind of sad how fast this vacation went by.

Day 195

Yesterday, Wednesday July 14th. Caleb and Dad ran the bike loop that we had been on multiple times before and Mom ran the fishing pier again. I, on the other hand, slept. Once I woke up and they all had made it safely back, we decided to head to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center. This is like a little hospital for sea turtles that need the help and a place where people can learn about the life of sea turtles. We wandered around and saw some of the sea turtles being operated on and rehabilitated. While there, we heard that there were going to be 8 turtles released into the ocean off of Jekyll's coast. So we decided that since this might be a once in a life time opportunity, why not go? We sat around the house for about an hour and then got on our bikes to head to the spot on the beach. It was probably about a three mile distance we rode on the beach and it was extremely tough because we were running against a strong wind the whole time. We finally got there and were able to see 4 turtles released. We got back to the house, cooled off and showered and headed to the Driftwood restaurant that is a part of the complex we are staying in. I had shrimp and grits...it was alright, nothing too special. Then we went and played putt putt on the island and I did absolutely horrible. Nobody did awesome but I did...like...very very bad haha. We wanted to see the sunset but it started to rain and storm so we headed back for home.

Day 194

Tuesday Caleb and Dad were off to go golfing so Mom and I hopped on our bikes and headed out for a a ride and photography expedition. First, we stopped at driftwood beach (when I finally had my camera) and we walked a little ways me snapping shots the whole time. Then we hit the historic district so I could get the shots I'd missed before and we continued along the 7-8ish mile bike path. We rode past the golf course but with their being three on the island, I don't think we saw the right ones to spot Caleb and Dad. After we got back, we got dressed and layered up with sunscreen and headed to the beach. It was so hot outside (we had to sit on the walkway because it was high tide and therefore no beach) that we couldn't stay out there too long before we headed to the pool to cool off. Once there, Caleb and Dad got home and joined us. That night for supper, we ate seafood again and I ate grilled Grouper. It was good. :)

Day 193

Monday I was woken up bright & early about 6:40 so we could go for a run. Before we got going, Dad and I walked down and looked at the ocean. The sun was still rising over the high tide and it was beautiful. On our run, we ran to the fishing pier (about 1.7 miles there). We walked along the pier to get a breather (at least I needed one) and then we headed off again on a path through the marsh. There was a beach entrance so we got onto the beach to run. I was having a difficult time. I'm still working on getting into shape but mentally, I'm out of shape too. Caleb and Dad were lots faster than us but thankfully Mom helped to encourage me on. We hit driftwood beach, from the other end of where we walked before. That made the running difficult because we had to maneuver over and around these fallen trees. That made the track very cross country in my opinion. We made it back to the house, got some gatorade for refreshment, and hit the pool to cool off. Not too long after, we hit the bike trails. I was able to take some pictures along the trails of the historic buildings along the way. The route we rode is around 7-8 miles so once we got done with that we were tired again. We cooled off in the pool again and then it was time for me to read another education chapter. Monday was a big reading day for me. I finished the little Twilight novella (I enjoyed it) and started Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah. Mom read it and thought that I would enjoy it. A great day number three! :)

Day 192

Sunday was the first full day on Jekyll Island for us. Dad was going to head our way after church got out. Right down the road from where we are staying is something called driftwood beach. We thought it was a good distance off so we would make that our morning run. We headed out and guess what? We were there in about 5 minutes. So, our tiny run went well and we enjoyed walking around the driftwood beach. It is gorgeous but not what you might guess. Basically, the ocean came up the beach into the jungle/forest. All of these trees are now on their sides with some roots standing taller than people! I didn't have my camera with me but I couldn't wait to take tons of pictures. After the run, we were in desperate need of groceries. I got to drive and we had to cross the huge bridge. It was kind of nerve wracking because I was still getting used to driving the truck and we had to drive over this really tall bridge back onto the mainland. We survived though. We stopped and ate at mcdonald's too...that's the only breakfast restaurant in town. After we had a good breakfast & then a good grocery shopping trip at Winn-Dixie. After we unloaded the groceries back at the house, we went to the beach for a little bit. One annoying thing about Jekyll is that if it's high tide, there is absolutely no beach. Rocks line the beach to help prevent erosion so at high tide the water is right up to the rocks. It was low tide when we went down, and we stayed in the water for a while. And amazingly enough we found tons of sand dollars! We each collected one and ended up just counting the rest that we found. The water is really murky but it felt really good and helped to cool us off. After, we sat out on the beach and I about fell asleep on mine haha. Getting back into the house after cooling off in the pool, caleb & mom started watching the world cup game (the final Spain vs. Netherlands) while I read my edu chapter. I finished as Dad arrived and the game was finishing. Spain won 1-0 after lots of overtime. :) We went and ate at Latitude 31 off of some pier. It was really good, I ate grilled scallops and potatoes. Great day number 2!

Day 191

Today! So I woke up at 7:00, showered, and got packing. We packed the cars and went to Hardee's to eat breakfast. Dad is meeting us at our condo tomorrow so he bid us farewell and we were off. The trip was about 4 hours so it was nice to finally arrive. We checked in and found our room. This place is nice: 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, kitchen, & sitting area. We decided to check out the place and find where we could get onto the beach. The beach access ramp is close to where we are so that's really nice. The beach is lined with these huge rocks to preserve the beach and at high tide, I'm sure the water comes right up to the rocks. So we walked a bit and came back to get our stuff out of the truck. It is so hot outside that we were all sweating like crazy once we were done. We ordered pizza (pineapple, bacon, & ham) and have just finished eating a yummy supper!

Day 190

Yesterday was a much better day. I had reasons to be happier: my paper was finished, it was friday, Alex was coming home!, and I had to pack for our beach vacation. Work went well. What I'm doing right now is slow and very repetitive but I entertain myself listening to music. I left work and bought something for Alex (I won't say in case he reads this ;]) and headed home. Alex was home and I talked to him for about 3 hours. I slowly started packing but I didn't get much done. We put hamburgers on the grill and had a yummy supper. The cucumbers in my picture are ones that we grew and though I don't like to eat them, they made a nice picture. At the end of the day, I had the basics of my clothes packed. That was a minimum but at least it's better than nothing!

Day 189

Thursday was just a so-so day. Work went fine but afterwards I drove all around Macon running errands and I didn't get lost but I had to turn around a few times because I changed my mind where I was going. Getting home, I bought a couple of things from American Eagle online and settled down into finishing my paper for education. I took a break to take some pictures (my photo-of-the-day is of a pearl necklace of mine in a gold cloth type box). Later, Mom, Dad, & Caleb got home and brought me Zaxby's to eat for supper so I ate (bought some new music - specifically Michael Bublé) and continued on my paper. I finished my rough draft, finished the final separate assignment for education, and successfully finished my paper before my midnight deadline. I had a long day and was glad to have completed all I needed to.

Day 188

Today was another good day. I ran again and headed off to work. I knew I needed to get home and work so I tried to get to work early, but that didn't really happen because I got there about the time I normally do. So I finished the part of the project I could complete at that time and finished up the day reading bulletins. We had a big group eating lunch today. It's quite funny, all of the employees (including interns) are all women except for the coordinator (the main boss). There is a whole lot of estrogen in that place. Thankfully, we all like each other and get along quite well. I got paid, which is quite nice. On my way home, I deposited the check and as soon as I got to the house, I crashed for an hour nap. Waking up, I watched a little TV and chatted Alex before getting to my paper. Now it is time for bed and I am over half way done with (at least the draft stage) of my paper. That's good progress on my account and hopefully tomorrow by this time I will be done with all I have to do and that it was done well. I bought a Flickr Pro account so I'm really excited about that. I wouldn't have upgraded my account, but it didn't show all of the pictures I had loaded (it can only show 200 at a time without pro) so now I can load as many as I'd like! :) Tomorrow is another day of work: job & school wise. Goodnight world! :)
Oh! Yesterday, I forgot to mention it but I heard about my lens that was in the shop! An estimate had been done (that was all they'd done) and they told me I had to pay for them to fix it and that the warranty was only 1 year so the lens wasn't covered. I had heard that the Sigma lenses had a 3 year warranty and I was correct about that (the guy called the main company and found out the correct info) so I now do not have to pay for the lens to be fixed, thank goodness. Now it has finally been sent to the tech people and I should hopefully (fingers crossed) have it back in about 2 weeks.

Day 187

Yesterday was a pretty good day. I woke up ran, showered, and was off to work. The newest employee in my office (she is I guess another boss) started Tuesday. I met her in Taliaferro and she seems really nice, I'm excited about getting to know her. I chatted a little, helping out Laura when I was needed, and continued my not-so-exciting job of gathering data. After work, I dropped of my good student discount at our insurance company's office and headed home. I have a research paper for education due Thursday and I decided that Tuesday I would really work on gathering sources. I watched some TV and talked to Alex and experimented with some macro filters a lady at church lent to me. They're so awesome! I haven't experimented with macro before (though I've wanted to). You just have to get really close to something for it to even focus properly. So I had fun with that outside, but as you notice I was procrastinating. I got back inside and called back a girl from my class and we talked about the paper. She told me some information that I hadn't noticed which made me quite stressed because I still had a long way to go. So I worked some, calmed myself down, and went to bed.

Day 186

Today has been a good day. I got today off from work so I slept until about 9:00. I went downstairs and ate breakfast. As planned, the whole family then set out to the garage. Half had been cleaned last Friday while I was at work and the 2nd half was going to get done today. So we took everything out of the garage, rinsed out the garage and rinsed off the items that had been covered in spiderwebs and dust, and put everything back in a hopefully more organized manner. My job for the most part was rinsing items off and I got myself pretty wet in the process. It was warm outside and I hope that I got some sun. After, we ate lunch and I got to chat Alex some. A little later, we were off to Macon to watch The Last Airbender. Caleb and I had watched the cartoon series so I was pretty familiar with the story line. I had heard many critiques that those who had watched the cartoon version did not like the movie. After it was over, we went to eat at Margaritas and had some yummy mexican food (I had burritos). The movie was alright. Some scenes were too drawn out but some action scenes were actually exciting. I noticed some differences between the cartoon and this version. I was surprised though because the movie is just the 1st part of three...and I didn't know what that would be the case. The cartoon series was divided into 3 books so I suppose they'll do the same for the movies. I don't know if I'd see it again but it wasn't terrible. Now we're home watching Lie to Me and I'll be doing some homework before bed. :)

Day 185

Happy 4th of July everybody! It sure is great to be an American, isn't it? So today started like most Sunday's do, I woke up showered and after getting completely ready (unfortunately in my non-patriotic outfit), we were off to church. Sunday school was small today and so was the overall church attendance. I wasn't surprised, this is a big travel weekend for people! After church, we came home and I read some just for fun and mom made cookies! They're oatmeal raisin with nuts! They smell so delicious. I had though of what I wanted to do for my picture today...take one of my mini flags and stick it in the ground and then lay down beneath it to take pictures. Well, the ground is VERY dry and hard so I gave up on that idea pretty quickly. I wandered around the yard with my flags and camera and eventually came out with one that I like! My Grandmother is coming over soon and we're going to socialize and enjoy a cook-out this evening. Hope everyone has a lovely Independence Day!! :)

Day 184

Today has a been a good Saturday (July 3rd 2010 by the way :) ). I slept until 10:00 and basically just sat around. I turned on the TV and got online, Alex was online so we chatted for a little while. About noon, mom, dad, and I went to Macon to run some errands. We got lunch, too, and ate at Ron and Cheng's - the chinese food and southern cooking restaurant that I love so much. At Walmart, I picked up the latest Stephanie Meyer's latest book: (officially) The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner:
An Eclipse Novella. I have read books that are probably almost 1000 pages long. This one is quite short...novella is a good description for it. It will take me probably an hour max to read it but I am excited about reading it. I am banned from reading it until vacation though, my mom took it from me. We picked Caleb up from his friend's house next and once we got home, all of us took naps. I slept hard until my dad woke me up...I could've slept for a lot longer but I didn't need to. We watched Shutter Island and man, it sure put me in a weird mind funk for a while. After, we went out to pick mom's cucumbers and tomatoes that have grown. They're so cute...& the subject for my picture today!! Now it's time for supper! :)

Day 183

Today! So I did not wake up to go running this morning, I was tired after staying up later than I wanted last night. So I woke up, showered, and was off to work. Everyone was back in the office today and it was nice to see those who'd been on vacation return. I continued work on my projects and at 2 I was done for the day. Everyday going into work and leaving work, I drive under this bridge. It's old and concrete and covered in graffiti. Every single time I pass it, I want to stop and take pictures of it. Well, I decided today was the day, as long as no one was around to see me do it. So I stopped at the stop sign, took a picture, drove a little further, and snapped another picture in black and white before driving off again. It's not a great neighborhood so I wasn't about to get out of my car to get more pictures. Getting home, I was quite happy with the result of my second picture (as you will see here). I think black and white photography has so much more depth and meaning than color pictures. It's nice not to have pressing homework assignments (though my "weeks" each start on Friday with new assignments) so I just chilled when I got home. I wrote letters to my Mercer friends (though I have yet to put them in the mail box), which I always find fun, and read a little of a pleasure book. Supper was good, and since Caleb is spending the night at a friend's house, we were free to watch the more girly movie that was rented last night. Remember Me, also staring Robert Pattinson, was the movie of the night. I did not really know what to expect, but afterwards, I can say that I really enjoyed it. It is a deep, sad movie but it is really well made and I recommend it to everybody! It's not all that much of a chick flick either so guys give it a shot, too. Then mom, dad, and I walked around the neighborhood and now we're just sitting relaxing in our family room. I figured I'd update my blogs, and now it's time to read! :) I love my family & summer!

Day 182

Thursday was back to work. I woke up and ran again (3 times this week!!) and felt really good after the run so maybe I'll increase my distance next time I run. I took my pictures after I finished running so I could get a different side of things, especially since it was so foggy that morning! It's so nice to be starting the process of getting back in shape. I've been such a bum about exercise but hopefully that trend is turning around. Thursday is the 9 month anniversary of when Alex & I started dating so that was a little exciting tidbit of the day. Work was fine as usual and when I got home, it was time for homework again and I settled down. I was logged into facebook and Alex was online! So we chatted for a good long while on Thursday, which was really nice. At 4 my mom told me (which much hesitation because she knew it would distract me from my homework) that Oprah was on and that she had the stars of the Eclipse movie on her show! So of course I had to go watch it. It's so funny how Robert Pattinson is British yet you can't even hear his accent in the movies! He said that some words were difficult to imitate the American accent, especially water and nachos (I mean to ask Alex to pronounce "nachos" for me next time I see him). So still talking to Alex, I got back to homework. I had done my reading earlier in the week so it was time for the actual assignments. I finished one, I took a long time telling Alex goodbye (he's off to Spain and didn't know if he'd get internet connection easily), we ate supper and I started my homework again. Dad wanted to rent some movies from Ingles so he & mom went to the store and got a few to watch. That night, we watched Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. It was a good movie, a little cheesy at parts, but I enjoyed watching it with the family. After it ended, I had to take a quiz for my edu class and by midnight I was going to bed. Whew...quite a full day! :)

Day 181

Wednesday! So Tuesday night at 10:00 I left my house, with my parents & brother, & we headed into Macon to go to the movie theater. Why so late you might ask? Well at midnight was the ECLIPSE PREMIER!!! AHHH! Ok, so yes, I was quite excited. There were a lot of people there and the line was wrapped around the building even at 10:30. In front of the theater, there was a blood donor vehicle (they were collecting bone marrow) which kind of cracked me up because we were watching a vampire movie haha. They also had cars that were suppose to be the cars that the actors drove in the movies and they had a cardboard cutout of each of the characters by the vehicles. I met my friend Lauren and her mom at the theaters so we were in line together and planned to sit together. There was an early showing of the movie to the TwiMoms (of Macon I guess) so we had to wait for them to get out of the theater. How were they so lucky to get an early showing?? Anyways, we got seated probably between 11:30-11:45 so we sat down to wait for the show to begin! They had issues with seating (the theaters were packed) so the showing didn't start until probably about 12:30 but who cares. The movie got out about 2:30 and I was ready for bed! The movie was AMAZING though, it followed the books so well and hey, what girl would complain about having to watch the movie?! So we got home and I went to bed by 3:30. I took Wednesday off from work (I'd just go in Friday instead) and slept until 11:30. So I woke up and worked on homework. Alex skyped me that night so we got to talk for a little bit. Caleb had gotten a wood burning kit at walmat so he burned a little picture and that is what my photo-of-the-day's subject is. He was quite excited it would be a photo-of-the-day. :)

Day 180

Tuesday is a day I can't remember much from...at least about what I did in the middle part of the day. I woke up early again to go running before work and in my process of getting ready, I discovered the new trailer for the last Harry Potter movies to be made! Ahh it's so good...I can't wait for the movies to come out! The first installment of the last book comes out in November and the final installment comes out next July. As my mom pointed out, I started reading the Harry Potter books when I was in the 4th grade (at that point the first 4 books were out) and once all of the movies have been made and released, I will be in the summer before my junior year of college! That's a long time. Anyways, so work went fine and I got home to work on homework. I was hoping to skype Alex but something happened where he couldn't get online so I didn't get the chance to speak with him. Tuesday night though was a very special night...but the even did not occur until after midnight so technically it happened on Wednesday...to be continued next blog! :)