Last day in SD

One last picture and I'm on my way to Ohio...with a stack of gifts for John (but shhh...don't tell him ;) )

Merry Christmas

Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday! Just had to show you the awesome gingerbread castle that my sister, Erin, made (and that Brenna and I helped with)...my crowning achievements were the tree with the red dots and the dragon on the top ;)

Hi from South Dakota

Yep, I'm home for the holidays...enjoying spending all day in my PJs and hanging out with the "wild dog pack" (my parents' dogs + my sister's dogs = 5...with two more on the way with my other sister). It's cold and snow/sleety here...but, since I don't have to go outside, I don't really mind ;) I'm also kind of helping my sister make a gingerbread house...actually she's really making it and I keep distracting her with random flash videos and things from the internet (a house full of laptops and wireless internet, fun!!)...Can you believe she hadn't ever seen the kitty cat dance?? It's one of my favorites

That's about it here...hoping everyone has the chance to hole-up inside today and do not much of anyhing ;)

Uhoh...

My sister is growling at me because I'm not posting enough...so here you go Bren ;)

Fun Christmas stuff...

The Chipmunk Song at normal speed
http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=20380

and then, Charlie Brown and his friends "shake it like a polaroid picture" ;)




Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and New Year!

<3
Abbie

Christmas Tree

I just put it up yesterday, and I love it! Now, I just need to get some gifts to put underneath it...

Something to do...

if you know how to knit, crochet, or sew fleece into scarves or hats...

http://www.supernaturale.com/glitter/viewtopic.php?t=25785

and as an added benefit, knitting, crocheting, and sewing are proven to reduce holiday related stress ;)

Red River Gorge

Milwaukee

Go Heather!!

Just wanted to brag on my friend, Heather...she's running the Chicago Marathon today!!!!!!!!!! Isn't that awesome?!?!?! Everyone think happy, fast thoughts for her =)

I'm also in Milwaukee for our national 4-H agents' conference...typing in the dark because I'm the only one awake in our hotel room (me and three other girls are staying together).

So what can I tell you about Milwaukee....well, yesterday I got to eat chocolate cheese! Sounds gross but is actually really good, it tastes just like fudge! I also bought 5 cookbooks at the Taste of Home Visitors Center Outlet (mmm lots of new things to cook), got to visit the biodomes in Mitchell Park, and ate Guiness Onion Soup (apparently it's good to cook with even if you don't really like to drink it).

Anyway, thats about it from here...I wish someone else would wake up (or that I could sleep in a little more--amazing that I never want to wake up for work, and now that I CAN sleep in I'm awake at 7 am...shaking my head)

Rainy days = Good pictures

...if you can keep your camera from getting too wet ;)



Here's one of my newer pictures--taken during "Biotechnology and YOU" camp. I took one kid from my county, and I wasn't in charge of anything. So, while they were extracting DNA from strawberries and learning about fingerprinting, I got to walk around in the rain taking pictures of canoes.

what a slacker..

I know, I never post...AND on top of that...I got a new computer and haven't reset my counter to not count me, so my blog looks more popular than it actually is ;) hehe

I don't have too much new going on...I've been working and watching my new Grey's Anatomy Season 1 and 2 DVDs (so addictive...now I can barely watch this season's shows because I'm used to being able to watch 5 or 6 shows right in a row). I went to Ohio last weekend and got to see John and Callie (what a sweetheart, but not so good at letting me sleep in...she'd be wiggling at my feet or standing in my hair at 6:30 A.M. ;) )

I also can't believe that no one commented on my last posts...c'mon, hot guy, adorable puppy...clearly no one appreciates my attempts to beautify the internet ;)


When at first you don't suceed, try, try again ;)

I've also been waiting to post until I had something really good/interesting/deep/inspirational to say...but it turns out that the more meaningful I try to be, the less I actually post

Luckily, other people have lots deep/inspirational/interesting/thoughtful things to say--specifically in the "This I Believe" essays segments they do on NPR. I love it when I catch those segments on the air...they've made me laugh, cry, and given me goosebumps all up and down my arms...You can read and listen to the essays online at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4538138

Puppy pictures

I didn't take that many pictures while I was on vacation, but this was one of my favorites (John is playing tug-o-war with Hero and Bailey in my parents' backyard)




And here's the newest girl in John's life. I'd be jealous but she's just too darn cute! Her name is Callie and she's an 8 1/2 week old Brittany Spaniel. John and his family got her yesterday night, and she's already keeping him on his toes! Even though I can't meet her for about two more weeks, I'm claiming adoptive puppy parent rights right now ;)

Happy Birthday to me!

Yep, I've been awful at posting...but I have an excuse! Earlier this week, John and I drove for 17 hours to get to my parents house in South Dakota (with only two wrong turns by me...State Route 55 towards Chicago is not the road towards my parents house ;) ). We've been playing with the puppies (with my parents' dogs and Erin's dogs here that makes five!), watching movies, eating out, and I think today may be marathon shopping day (yay!!)

And...on top of it all, yesterday was my 26th birthday, and it was just wonderful! We went over to the community center and got to do some rock climbing there, AND the community center also has an indoor pool with a great water slide-so I went down the slide four times =) I even got my dad to try it out! Later, John and I went to Dairy Queen, and checked out the awesome flea market here. Then it was present and dinnertime! =)

I won't go on about my gifts because that seems a bit tacky, BUT I am glad to say that, as long as Best Buy pulls through with some quick installation, we won't be listening to old U2 and Top Gun tapes on the drive home ;)

Back from Louisville

I had to spend three days in Louisville helping set up the 4-H area at the Kentucky State Fair-rough, huh? I had a blast and got to check out a couple cool places in Louisville like...

Lynn's Paradise Cafe which I saw on the Food Network a few weeks ago. So, naturally, being the Food Network junkie that I am, I had to go check it out! Lots of fun, great food! =)

Also The Knit Nook where I bought two sets of needles and drooled over yarn...cute place =)

Let's just pretend...

that I get tagged for things ;) I saw this on Kirsten's blog and I feel like writing about books, so here ya go. I'm a BIG book person, and I picked my college major (English-and just English, not English Ed or anything that actually translates to a job) because I wanted all my homework to be reading (with some pesky writing every now and then). Then during all that English coursework, I actually developed a perverse love of editing and proofreading (not always evident in my typo-laden posts), but that is another post entirely...

Books that changed my life
Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
Desert Solitaire - Edward Abbey
Illusions - Richard Bach
Lord of the Rings (I LOVED it, and finally reading it prevented me from being a total outcast in my family)

Books that I read more than once
Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis
Far Appalachia: Following the New River North - Noah Adams
From Beginning to End, The Rituals of Our Lives - Robert Fulghum
Many more...

Books that I would want in a desert island:
Honestly, on a desert island, I'd rather have a HUGE supply of magazines (Cosmo, Glamour, Health, etc.)

One book that made me laugh:
Tim Cahill's travel books make me laugh out loud no matter where I am (I think I've frightened people in airports before)

One book that made me cry:
I tear up reading "From Beginning to End" by Robert Fulghum

One book I wish I had written:
The Harry Potter Books

One book I wish had never been written:
White Noise by DeLillo


One book I am currently reading:
Harry Potter and the Socerer's Stone (again)

I'm back

Gosh I love vacations

and that pretty much sums it all up ;) I've been vacating in Ohio since Thursday, and I may actually be relaxing a little bit. We've been to an outdoor concert, went to see a really fun blues band at a bar, went out with friends, went swimming, visited camp, went out to eat, and yesterday, I managed to find two birthday gifts for John at the mall...amazing! I figured a procrastinator like me would be stuck with something crummy...BUT I found exactly what I was looking for, on sale!

Today we're making a trip to Athens (yay!), doing some mountain biking, and celebrating John's birthday (one day early since I have to drive back tomorrow). Hope everyone else is having a good week (and Bren, that your move is going smoothly, I can't wait to hear about your new place!!)
=)

Another flower picture...

I'm not sure what these flowers are...but I really like them. I had to move all the flower pots up to the front so they aren't getting baked by the sun. I just hope my neighbors will (please please please) remember to water them while I'm gone.

And Christina asked me a question in her last comment, which actually isn't too awkward to answer in a post (especially since my blog is mostly visited by a few friends and family members). My photographs are for sale. However, I'm still in the process of figuring out prices, frames, etc. If you go back to the post I made before the Mushroom Festival (April 2006), and would like your pictures to look exactly like those...the cost for a 4x6 (framed size = 8x10 I think, I don't have one left to measure) would be $35, and for a 5x7 (framed size=almost14xalmost17) would be $60, plus shipping. Different sizes/frames are possible but will probably take a fair bit of emailing back and forth. If there's something you're interested in, leave a comment or email me.

If you just want a print, I'm not sure how much that will be. I'll get back to you ;)

I'm even willing to sell photographs to people I don't know who randomly find themselves on my site, but, since-unlike my friends-I don't have junior high pictures I can blackmail you with, at this point, you'd have to pay by check and then I'd send the picture. I won't feel hurt if you don't take me up on that offer, but I thought I'd put it out there ;)

Eventually I'll have a site with all my pictures and I'll be able to take orders and tell you right off what prices are, but I'm still getting there ;)

Taking a little break...

Yep, turns out that work continues even after the county fair is over...now that doesn't seem very fair, does it? ;) Right now I'm so brain scrambled that I'm forcing myself to take a break, with the hopes that afterward, I'll be 100 times more effective (or something like that...)

I wouldn't have so much scrambling to do, but in just one more day, I'll be on vacation for a week! I'm going up to Ohio and I have big, big plans for the week, like sleeping in, and sitting by the pool, and trying not to think or talk about work (and you can ask John how good I am about not thinking or talking about work...not.very. good.)

But you know what? I'll start not talking about work right now...

So it turns out my chiropractor likes a lot of my pictures and has 6 (!!) that he's interested in. I'm so excited about the idea of having pictures up in his office, just the fact that someone would want to buy 6 of my pictures, and the money that six pictures could bring. =) And once people see them, will they want to buy them too??

I also made a batch of chocolate chip cookies last night...and did my best to be generous with them. I probably should've given more away though, because now they are ALL I WANT TO EAT...exasturbated by the fact that I don't have a whooole lot of other food...I'm going to let myself have just one more, for now ;)
=)

Oh Thank Goodness...

Yes, I have officially survived the county fair. We had exhibit pick-up today and it was amazing to see how quickly all those exhibits disappeared.

I guess I'm not TOTALLY done, because after that was over I put all the state fair exhibits into my car and since it was raining, decided I'd take them over to the office later. It's later now, but I'm still putting it off ;) And I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to move a bale of hay all by myself anyway.

hanging in...

Yep, I survived 4-H Camp (two weeks ago...I'm just really behind), AND the first day of the county fair (today) AND today is ALSO one year of working in my job!

Yay me!

I'm too sexy for this catwalk...

I just found out a few days ago that my sister was in a fashion show in Kansas City (wow!) modeling a dress made by her friend, Martha! Exciting, huh?

Read the article here When they talk about the dress by Martha, and the model with the baby, that's my sister and the baby that she nannies for

=)

A green thumb after all...

Turns out I can grow flowers from seeds! My very first bachelor's button bloomed last night/yesterday...and here's a picture!

A good one...

The Real Work
by Wendell Berry

It may be that when we no longer know
what to do we have come to our real work,
and that when we no longer know which way to go,
we have come to our real journey.
The mind that is not baffled is not employed.
The impeded stream is the one that sings.

abbie attempts to have a more exciting blog...

by actually posting on it ;)

Been kind of busy recently...just bought new running shoes that I love love love...and I'm on week five of the beginner runner's plan from Runners World (click here to see the plan)It's taken me about 2 months to get there...decided that exercising when I can, and cutting myself some slack when I couldn't was better than just quitting when I had a week that I didn't get out enough. I'm pretty psyched because this is the third time I've tried it, and the best I've EVER done...maybe all my amazing running (Yay Heather and Christina!), glacier climbing, triathloning friends have rubbed off on me a little ;)

All the little flower seeds (wildflowers, old fashioned seed mix, and bachelor buttons)I planted are sprouting up...except the ones I planted in my two ceramic pots that don't have draining holes. With all the rain we've gotten, those have pretty much turned into stagnant pools...oops! It's true, all pots need to have holes in the bottom or be placed inside where they can't get downpoured on...BUT I still consider it a personal victory that I could grow plants from seeds. =) I'll post pictures when they look more flower-y.

Umm...other exciting news...I sold one of my photographs at the Mushroom Festival! I sold the rocking chair picture (you can see it if you scroll down). Then the flower picture became a mother's day gift for my boyfriend's mom (it's from her garden). The fence picture is back on my wall where it belongs, and the tree and the pier pictures are hanging out here...because I don't want to pay 30-50% comission for someone to sell it in their store (yeah...no thanks). My chiropractor did take a CD of my pictures today (I put together an awesome power point...I wish you could see it)...he's looking for stuff to put on his office walls...so I'm hoping he finds something that'll work. He wants 11x14s and it'd be so awesome to see my work that BIG! =)

That's about it...oh, and I have tons of food in my house, and all I want to eat is cheese sticks from pizza palace...craziness! I think I'll break down tomorrow and just go buy some, and maybe then I'll be left to eat my chicken (and everything else in the refrigerator) in peace.

mmm...

Ben and Jerry's Oatmeal Cookie Chunk Ice Cream...really, go buy some ;)

A little bit late...

Well I finally read about this contest, and now it's too late to enter but I'm going to write out the places anyway...

Name places other than your house or a knitting store where you have knit...:

In hotel lobbies

During small group meetings for church

In the library during Young Adult Book Club...ah, knitting and Anne of Green Gables, I was in heaven! =)

SO EXCITED!!

So, I went out and got more prints and frames, put the prints in the frames, and now my photographs are all ready to go to the Arts Council booth at the festival this weekend. I'm so thrilled about how nice they look that I'm bouncing off the ceiling (this is the first time I've ever had a group of my photographs in frames and looking all nice)!

Just had to share...














A little about the pictures (because that's fun to talk about)...

Starting with the far left (with the lights and the water), this photograph was taken on a pier in Seattle. It was our second night in the city. It was raining and we were walking to a seafood resturant (which was just to the left of where I took this picture). I thought the lights looked really neat against the water and the gray sky, so I took one picture (got my camera a little bit wet in the process) and then followed my friends into the resturant.

The Flower photograph was taken in my boyfriend's Mom's garden a few years ago, I think. I love it, but I'm glad it's the only flower picture of the bunch--sometimes I get a little flower happy and end up with a TOO many flower pictures. (In college, my friends used to joke that I could have a whole photography portfolio of just flowers) ;)

To the right of that, is the Pack Forest picture, which is described a few posts down. It was a rainy, cold day to be walking around a forest, but I was in heaven (bad weather can make some of the BEST photographs).

The next picture, the fence, was taken last May in Wyoming...I once again had gotten the urge to take pictures in questionable weather (we were under a winter storm warning when I took this one). The picture was taken just outside of the town where I lived, and it's one of my two favorite pictures from my year in Wyoming.

And then the last picture, the rocking chair, was taken during my spring break trip to South Dakota, and, it's true that sometimes you don't have to go far for good pictures...this chair is on my parents porch (I've also got a picture of it covered with snow--needless to say I didn't get much of a tan while "spring-breaking" in SD) ;)

slacker slacker slacker

Okay, it's been a little while...and I don't have much to write about because not a whole heck of a lot has been going on. I do have to get some prints and frames together because there's a local festival this weekend, and I can exhibit/sell my work in the Arts Council booth for free. So tonight will involve a trip to Target (I LOVE Target) where I'll print my pictures at one of those digital kiosk things and then buy frames that already have mats in them--it's all very complicated ;) I'm really excited about having my photography in the booth, and I figure even if it doesn't sell, at least everyone will know what a bad-ass photographer I am ;)

I've also started walking/jogging (I'd like to call it running, but there's actually no running involved). It's a training thing from Runners World that I've tried a few times in the past--good for starting out and getting exercise without totally wishing you were dead. If you're interested, you can find it right here http://www.runnersworld.com/cda/article/0,5033,s6-51-184-0-2201-3-2X3X6-4,00.html
I think I may really stick with it this time...I've actually been looking forward to exercising (gasp!) which is a new thing for me, and the benefits (stress relief, being in a better mood, not feeling like a lazy lump, and actually getting stronger) are amazing. But there's nothing wrong with a little accountability, so I'm on week 2 (jog a minute, walk a minute) and I've only walk/jogged once this week...so I need to go two more times by Sunday

What else...well I had a huge spring cleaning/get rid of stuff fest and I finally got rid of all the bedding stuff that I didn't like (ugly comforter and too small sheets)...so the goal for May will be to find a new quilt/coverlet thing (right now I've got a twin size quilt on my queen sized bed--more than big enough for me but it looks a little funny. I'm going to look at Target tonight and maybe sneak over to Linens and Things too...I'm thinking plain...green, maybe? then then I could get some fun sheets (hmm....Target has fun sheets)...

Maybe going to Target isn't such a good idea when pay day is still two days away... ;)

Wow...

so the number of people who've visited my blog has pretty much doubled over one weekend...that's pretty darn cool (and I'm trying not to let my new-found fame go to my head ;) ) May seem a little strange to get excited about 136 people veiwing my proflie (that's total...not just this week) but for awhile I've been convinced that the only person that really saw my blog was my boyfriend...so yep, this is great!

Thanks Kirsten! I think you're freakin' awesome too--your knitting projects are incredible and inspiring (lace knitting---you must have the patience of a saint! Remember when I was working on Branching Out? Well...it hasn't gotten any longer since then...I think it'll be a loooong-term project) and I love reading about everything you're up to (P.S. I love Alton Brown too--if he weren't married I'd go to Georgia and steal him for myself--now don't you go down there and try it, I'd fight you for him ;) )

So with great fame (lol) comes great responsibility...how can I make my blog interesting enough that people will come back? That's something I've wondered the entire time I've had a blog actually...and I've thought about having a theme (photography or "how to survive in rural Kentucky when you're not from Kentucky and don't have a clue what soup beans or country ham is") but the truth is, I'm too scatterbrained for a theme...so I'll just keep posting about the random parts of my life and hope you'll stop by sometimes and check it out!! Oh, and if you're really into photography...root around a little more...I've got some stuff from Wyoming that I really like and it's in the postings from last March (?) I think...

Photography is pretty much my favorite thing of all time--I've been taking pictures since I was nine (heck yeah, 4-H photography project!). Since then, I've had a photograph on the cover of Kansas Banker Magazine (you all saw that issue, right?? ;) ), dominated the Douglas County 4-H photography contest at the county fair and newspaper/yearbook photography stuff at my high school (you can also find some of my pictures in the FSHS display at the local Applebees...now that's the big time ;) ) and went to Ohio Univeristy for photojournalism..and got totally BURNT OUT, switched majors twice and ended up as an English major (and since reading is my second favorite thing, things worked out really well--though as you can see, I still love the run-on sentence)...

Now that the burnt out feeling has worn off (helped along by receiving a Canon Digital Rebel for graduation) I'm happily taking my camera anywhere and everywhere I go. I'm also looking into getting my photography displayed at some local galleries and since it turns out that people (other than my parents) think my photography is worth buying, I'm also looking into selling my prints (SO EXCITING!!)

If you're really into knitting...well...you're pretty much seeing the extent of my knitting skills right here (though there are some adorable baby boy scout socks around here somewhere). I first learned to knit from my sister Erin, promptly forgot how, and learned again during a sock knitting class I took last winter...I'm still learning but I love knitting (and I NEED the stress-relief!) and I also love impressing the heck out of people when I'm using double-points ;)

Anyway that's about it for me...except for...a quote that I love right now...(heck, if I can't get you to come back, maybe Voltaire can!)

"I have always made one prayer to God, a very short one. Here it is, "My God, make our enemies very ridiculous!" God has granted it to me." - Voltaire

May all your enemies be "very ridiculous" ;) Thanks for coming by

Can you spot the finished projects??

My most recent knitting projects...one and a half toddler socks (the other half is on the way). I LOVE making these socks and luckily, it seems like everyone I know is having babies. I'm also loving the purple varigated yarn--I think it's making the cutest socks ever (rivaled only by the baby boy scout socks I made). The socks are all resting on my newly finised throw--which I love so much that it goes on my bed every night and back to my couch during the day. I'm not sure what I'll tackle next. I've been doing some online pattern searching--one of these days I may attempt to make socks that are actually my size!

Another South Dakota Picture

A cold day to be taking pictures...

Other Exciting Things...

I don't think I posted anything about it, but I entered one of my photographs from Seattle in the "Glories of the Garden" Art Show at the UK Arboretum. I was thrilled when it was picked for the show, vey excited at the Artists' Reception...but that was nothing compared to Friday morning, when I found out someone had bought my photograph!!! So somewhere, on someone's wall...someone I don't even know, there's a signed, framed print by me!! I don't think I've posted the picture yet, so here it is...feel free to tell me how beautiful it is (hehe) ;)

Work in progress...

So on Friday night I started knitting a throw...and it's going pretty well! It's 60 stiches, knitting both sides (is that garter stitch? maybe?), holding two strands of Lion Brand Homespun (in Colonial--dark blue with turquoise and beige accents) on size 35 needles (which are huge...but honestly, I wouldn't knit a throw with needles that weren't huge ;) )

Here it is!

My adorable couch and a close-up so you can see the pattern!

Going to be a couch potato!!

Guess what I did today??? I bought a couch! Now this may seem pretty normal/not that exciting...BUT for the past 6 months I've been living WITHOUT a couch...which means I've had a papasaun chair and a folding camp chair in my living room...and even though they are acceptable things to sit on, they are not at all like a couch...

So yesterday, my wonderful new friend Keith called me to say that they'd seen some nice couches at the Peddler's Mall in Richmond. I was so excited (especially knowing that Keith has impeccible taste and would only tell me about nice couches) so I took off work at 4 and drove over to Richmond to check them out....ahhh love at first sight!!! so my new couch is really comfortable AND it looks like it's never been used AT ALL (it also doesn't look like the type of couch that would have fleas, bedbugs, or mice living in it--and yes, bedbugs do really exist and are making a comeback...oh, the things you learn working for the College of Agriculture ;) )

So my new couch looks like it came from someone's formal living room...it's part of a two couch set (I did think about buying the other one but really...I don't need two of the same couch). It's got a lower back and low armrests, and it's a blue, sage green, gold floral, which sounds...well, it sounds hideous...but take it from a girl that does not normally like florals, it's really cute...and now you're picturing retro...but I think the couch isn't actually that old...anyway, I'll post a picture when it gets here!

That's the only sad thing...me with my camry on a really rainy day can't get a couch from Richmond to my apartment...so I've already been trying to secure some help and a truck for tomorrow after work...luckily, I am very persuasive, determined and I've got a killer smile...

;)

Some of my favorites...

For eight years, I've been collecting quotations and putting them into blank books. It's always a thrill find a new quotation that I love and can add to my collection! This evening, after adding a few new ones to my book, I was reading back through the some of the older ones....

"So, when something out of the ordinary happens,
some event that brings reassurance that our faith is trustworthy,
we welcome it with all our heart.
But the lesson is the same,
ultimately
everything is going to be okay."
- Mitch Finley

"What is the meaning of it all? I will never know. But I may, like those first graders, give my life meaning by throwing myself recklessly into it daily, as if something astonishing is happening and I am a part of it. It is and I am." -Robert Fulghum

Wow...
=)