All Is Calm

Picture of Seema from this past weekend.
I dress her up so cute in a green mock turtleneck and jeans, then layered on a pink and green hearts sundress. Was trying to get some Valentine's photos... but at last we'll have to try again.


Re-cap from yesterday...
We are excited to have a new President. We are excited to see what change he will be bringing.
Our eyes (along with millions of others) were glued to the tv and computer screens yesterday.

I've been tagged!!

1. What is your favorite thing to do on a snow day? Watch tv and cuddle up under a blanket

2. What color are your socks right now? Tan and brown striped

3. What are you listening to right now? Me typing on the keyboard

4. What was the last thing that you ate? Not sure, but I drank OJ this morning

5. Can you drive a stick shift? Yes, but it’s been a couple years and I now tend to ride the clutch LOL-Chris!

7. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Sales person – sent them to voicemail. ha!

8. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Definitely. J

9. How old are you today? 26.1

10. Favorite drink? Hot chocolate… mmmm…

11. What is your favorite sport? Geez.. IDK

12. Have you ever dyed your hair? Yeah, lots.

13. Pets? Nada.

14. Favorite food? Anything Mexican or Italian.

15. Last movie you watched? Hmmm… Holes, I think that was the last one. We watch a lot of old movies on tv.

16. Favorite day of the year? Thanksgiving

17. What do you do to vent your anger? Eat

18. What was your favorite toy as a child? Barbie

19. What is your favorite, summer, fall, winter or spring? Fall

20. In what outfit do you feel the most like yourself? Depends were I’m at… if at home sweats and a long sleeved shirt (for the winter)

21. Cherry or Blueberry? Blueberry

22. Kittens or Puppies? Puppies

23. Choir, Band, or other? Other, IDK

24. Facebook or Myspace? Facebook

25. Sleeping arrangements? Queen size bed, and the kiddo comes in to take over the bed mid-night

26.Where you'd most like to visit? Canada, again. Europe, Italy

28. Favorite Youtube video? Jeff Dunham with Peanut - yeah that's pretty funny!

29. Favorite smell? Freshly mowed grass, clothes when they come out of the dryer, fresh squeezed/cut oranges

30. Least favorite sound? Fingernails on the chalkboard… - yeah that!

31. What inspires you? My friends and family.

32. What are your irrational fears? Snakes, drowning, heights

33. Regular hamburger, cheese or spicy hamburger? Regular…. But preferably a veggie or turkey burger.

34. Favorite class ever? HMTL - from college; Bellies & Babies seminar - met some new peeps and learned some good marketing things.

35. Number of keys on your key ring? 1 - car key only!

36. Favorite type of shoe? Slip-ons lol

37. Favorite day of the week? Saturday

38. What do you hate? A bit of everything, depends on what’s going on

39. Do you like your handwriting? Sometimes

40. What is your favorite lunch meat? Turkey

41. Do you have kids? Little girl

42 If you were another person would you be friends with you? Heck yeah!

43. Do you use sarcasm a lot? Sometimes

44. Do you still have your tonsils? Yes.

45. Would you bungee jump? No, I don’t like heights.

46. What is your favorite cereal? cheerios

47. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? See above shoe question ^

48. Do you think you are strong? Yes

49. What is your favorite ice cream? Rocky Road or Birthday Cake

50. What is the first thing you notice about people? Eyes

51. Red or pink? pink

52. What is your least favorite thing about you? I get distracted easily

53. What color pants and shoes are you wearing? Brown pants, brown shoes - yes, I'm the matchy-matchy type of person

55. Do you exercise? Yes

57. Eye color? Blue

56. Do you wear contacts? No

59. Scary movies or happy endings? Hmm… more action/drama/comedy

60. Favorite interjection?

61. Favorite dessert? Brownies

62. What book are you reading now? Nothing for now

63. What is on your mouse pad? My mouse… lol

64. What did you watch on TV last night? Nothing good was on, so watched a bit of Channel 8’s recap of Bush’s last speech -what a joker, did you guys see how he was acting? WOW

65. Why did you complete this survey? Had the time, lol

Simplify

I have a few things that I use daily to help me be more organized. Really I don't think I could live without them, even though there was a time that they didn't exist in my life.

1. Ping.FM. I am addicted to social network (facebook, twitter, etc) To be able to update all my statuses at once I use ping.fm. This also updates my LinkedIn and MySpace statuses. Check it out, it's a real time saver.

2. Morning Coffee. I'm not talking about a cuppa coffee that you drink, even though that does help me through the day to get with the program. I'm talking about this nifty little application that works similarly to your browser favorites, but will load all the sites you have in your Morning Coffee with the click of one button. For more information go here. I use Firefox most of the time, and this is an add-on.

3. Android G1 phone. I just got this phone recently but it's already making my life easier. I can get my photography emails delivered to the phone, having a calendar always with me is a godsend, to do list application, OI Shopping list (even lets you cross of the item), Compare Everywhere is also a neat application (it lets you scan an items barcode and will compare the prices with other stores).

4. Household Handbook. Have you heard of this? If not you are so missing out. I just started mine in Oct 2008 and it's the best thing. It's a 3-ringed binder that holds everything needed to run the household. Monthly calendars, weekly calendars for scheduling, weekly meal planners, take-out menus, cleaning matrix (broke down by yearly, monthly, weekly, daily cleaning), and more stuff. It's like central command. I keep it in the kitchen by the phone. There's a section for phone messages too. If my hubby needs to know where we're going to be he can just look in there.

5. Magnetic Clips. These are a lifesaver for me. We have a magnetic door and it's just so handy to stick these clips on there. They hold outgoing mail, money, etc. Pretty much anything I might need to grab on the way out the door but otherwise would forget it if it wasn't in front of me.

I'd love to know what makes your life easier?

New Toys

Seema loves to color. Actually we all get in on the coloring with her new Aquadoodle that Santa brought her!







New John Deer boots that Uncle Chris gave her.

Christmas celebrated at our house

This was our first gingerbread house. It was one of those kits. Seema just wanted to eat all the candy she could get her hands on without us knowing.





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This year we decided to host a 2 day event. My main goals was to have the family together. That's really all I cared about this year. We didn't cook the big turkey or go all out on a feast. Instead we had a simple Christmas Eve dinner followed by a couple movies, then Christmas Day brunch with a few more movies and games, then a simple dinner of manicotti and salad. It went pretty much as I had pictured.

Christmas Eve table

Grandma and Seema reading a snowmen book

All the movies we watched these two days

She was too tired from all the morning's excitement of opening gifts.
Napping while waiting for our Christmas guests.

Almost ready for Santa to come

December To-Do's

• Outside Christmas decor.
  Check.
  The drive way is lined with white lights and the wreath is on the door.
• Christmas Tree
  Check.
  This year's theme is red and white/silver.
  Seema has done very good with not touching the ornaments, presents, or nativity
  
• Wrap Presents
  Partial Check.
  
• Gingerbread House
  Check.
  We had a blast making this Sunday. Our first gingerbread house as a family.
  
• Christmas Movies
  We love that ABCfamily is having the 25 days of Christmas with Christmas movies galore.
  
• Christmas Cookies
  Check.
  Made Magic Cookie Bars.
  
• Snow
  Check. We got 3 inches the last time. It's snowed twice so far this month.
  
• December Daily Scrapbook Album
  Partial Check.
  It's started, just a bit behind. I'm still on day 12 and it's already the 22nd. Will be playing catch up this week.
• Christmas Eve and Christmas Day planned
  Check.
  Christmas Eve we're hosting dinner, then snacks and movies.
  Christmas Day we're hosting brunch, then simple dinner.
  

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I'm preparing for 2009. Trying to think of my goals for this coming year and what I want this year to be for me and my family. I am fully inspired my Ali Edwards. Ali does a "one little word" that you think about the whole year through. Like it guides you through the year and inspires you daily.

These are the list of words I have so far (trying to narrow it down over the next couple weeks)...
Accept {to regard as normal, suitable, or usual}
Appreciate {to be grateful or thankful for}
Discover {to see, get knowledge of, learn of, find, or find out; gain sight or knowledge of}
Invest {to use, give, or devote (time, talent, etc.), as for a purpose or to achieve something}
Moments {A particular period of importance, influence, or significance in a series of events or developments}


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Pictures coming soon....

• Seema with Santa
• Making our gingerbread house
  

The Spirit of Giving

I am so excited to be able to join in the spirit of giving this year. I am teaming up with Giving is Awesome and 360+ other photographers internationally to offer my photography services to a deserving family. Visit my photography blog for more details and to nominate a deserving family that you know. http://tinyurl.com/5aonp8

The winning family will receive $300 in custom photography from me. The person who nominated the winner will receive $100 print credit from me.

The winner will be announced on December 29th, 2008 on my photography blog.

Open your heart to someone this holiday season -- and thanks for giving me the opportunity to open mine.

Sarah