My fox lent

Tell me I’m not the only one who says fox instead of faux, for fun?

I don’t do lent. Never have, and honestly, I probably never will. A lot of people do, for all different reasons, but its just not for me.

With that said, I realized there’s been something I’ve stopped eating. Something that I love. If you know me, you already know what it is because I’ve declared my love for it over and over again. I would eat it every single day, sometimes twice..sometimes three times a day, that’s how close we were. Not to mention I’ve sworn on it, to keep a promise.

Cheese!

I didn’t do it intentionally at first. Once I got back home from HI, I had no food and it was too expensive at my local stores, so I vowed to wait for the big Costco run to get it. But then by day 6 of not having it, I started thinking about not getting any at all.

I was telling my friend over the weekend how I’ve stopped eating cheese (by cheese I mean my sharp cheddar cheese), and I went on and on about it until she said, ‘except for that pizza you had Wednesday.’

Darn! Would you believe I completely forgot there was cheese in pizza?!!

Well, that one day I had 2 medium sized slices, I felt horrible. I don’t know if it was the pizza itself or the cheese but I certainly didn’t feel well after.

Every day before and after, I’ve felt great. Flat stomach, no bloating (TMI?), light and generally good. I’m still figuring out whether or not it’s me cutting out cheese as the reason or that I’ve been eating pretty healthy but I like the way I’m feeling.

I’m going to see how long I can go without having my beloved cheddar cheese. Some days are pretty tough, especially when I see my tortillas and tortilla chips sitting there all sad and lonely, wondering why I haven’t had nachos or quesadillas since I’ve been home, but I’m hopeful I can overcome!

Did you give up something for lent? Or in general just to do it?

I’m learning that the older I get the more my body doesn’t like certain foods. Maybe it never liked them and I would ignore it but I can’t ignore it anymore.

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A thankful me - 9

Hello hello hello everyone. This week is going to be great. Can you feel it?! It has to, it just has to. It won’t be the same as last week, there’s no way that can happen…not that it was a bad week, but boy I don’t want it to repeat.

I want something new, something different, something progressive. I’m dying for progression, know what I’m saying???

No? yeah, I don’t really either.

This week I’m thankful for:

- finally selling my microwave I’ve been dying to sell for over a year now. God has definitely been on the money lately. get it? on the money..selling..
moving on
- helping my friend shop for a whole new wardrobe. She got so many great things with Kohl’s great clearance sale. I’m so excited for her. Kohl’s is the best.
- getting a $40 pair of perfectly fitted shorts for only $2.70. I couldn’t resist. I don’t think anyone could have resisted that!
- fresh garlic. I’ve been a bit obsessed with it lately rubbing it on my sourdough toast for a snack. Going through an entire loaf of bread in one week all on my own isn’t a bad thing, is it?
- getting to shoot another family Sunday in a beautiful orchard.



- skyping with a dear friend
- Jeremiah 29:11-13 Verses I’ve been focusing on.
'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.
'Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
'You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

Remember, this is going to be a great week! Even if you have to tell yourself over and over again.

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On average, 1.5-2 hours

How long does it take for you to write your blog posts?

Mine literally take 1.5 hours or longer…each! Is that too long? There’s moments when I can knock an easy light one out in about 30 minutes, but that’s very rare. Other times, if it’s a deep one for me, it can take upwards to 4 hours. If I’m distracted by the tv or radio, forget about it. Figure to tack on an additional 30-60 minutes.

Maybe there are some of you that are like me. Who really take their time with each post. Write, read, re-read, write some more then re-read again (or 5 more times) before publishing…then re-read again before finding that problem, fix, publish, then close it down.

If you’re anything like me, you’d know that its great when someone acknowledges the post you take time to write by leaving a comment. But are you noticing that maybe not as many people are leaving comments like they used to?

Maybe not, but if you have, it could be of the evil “captcha”. Heard of it? Its also known as ‘word verification’ or ‘the thing everyone and their mother is hating right now’.

Why is everyone hating it? Because of those 2 words right there? They made it 2 words now to enter and a lot of the time, its very very difficult to read. A lot of bloggers are up in arms about it and refusing to comment the moment they see they have to enter these 2 words.

But how can I remove this when there are spammers out there!? Let me tell you. I’ve had verification turned off for almost a year now and have not received 1 spam email. Maybe I’ll eat my words soon but there’s a tab in your dashboard that you can check as often as you’d like.


So, how can you possibly take that step to removing it and have everyone sigh that big huge sigh of relief? (including yourself…trust me) Its simple:

Login to your blogger dashboard. If you’re using the new blogger settings, switch back to the old one.


Click settings.


Click comments. (oh, and while you’re there, switch to pop up window comment, while you’re at it)


Select NO for where it says "Show word verification for comments?" and save!


Easy as that! Any questions???

Ask away…oh oh and for kicks, check to see if your email is attached to your comments. From the dashboard>edit profile>check the box that says ‘show my email address’ and save. Viola! Now, when you leave a comment on a blog, they can reply to it.

Ok, I’ll stop overloading you on a Friday. Have a fabulous fun safe silly weekend for me, okay!?

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Let me explain

How can I bring up a subject for the 2nd time in 1 week without having anyone think the wrong things…

Well, let me point out that A. I’m curious. All the time I’m curious about things, just can’t stop. B. I’m one for information. Just ask my youngest older brother AKA the one closest to me who had to grow up next to me, what his nickname was for me in high school. {info Emi} It wasn’t meant to be a nice name. As he put it, ‘Emi always had info no one cared about. Info Emi is filled with useless information.’

Gee, thanks so much. But it was as such that I said things that others might not find as interesting as I did/do…for instance:

Did you know no 2 bird species flap their wings the same?!?!

{didn’t think so}

…C. I like to be prepared for that far off distant day, because I hate not being prepared. D. I have the opportunity to ask a wonderful forum of women who have the experience and knowledge and why in the world WOULDN’T I want to take advantage of that at this very moment when it doesn’t pertain to my current life?! aaaand E. now this may come as a shock to my mom, sister and any other family and friends who read my blog…
I admit that I in fact DO NOT know everything!
{I’ll wait while you get back in your chair}

SO with that said, I have a question. {yippy}

What’s your take with white noise machines and babies? Do you use them? Or a loud fan to drown the noise out while they sleep so they aren’t disturbed? If you keep this on and they get used to it, does it make it a lot harder when you aren’t using one when they sleep?

How come, if you do not use one, use one? If people ring your doorbell all the time and wake the kids, would a white noise machine or loud fan drown out the *ding dong*? Or will the kids hear it any way?

I’d think I’d want to use them if it meant I could keep baby asleep a little longer with noise. But I can see getting the baby to sleep at any moment with any sound, so they will sleep anywhere.

Now let’s hear it. Are they good to use? Worth it? Do they do the trick? And do you even bother? Why or why not?

you all did so great at my caffeine/baby question that I know you’ll do great with this one. :)

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You’ve got a friend in me

via

Can you think of that one friend who’s more loyal than the others? Who would do anything and everything for you if you asked? Or even didn’t ask?

I have this friend, we don’t talk much now but the occasional text here and there since we live in different cities now, but when we were in the same town, we were pretty close. We were unlikely friends. No one understood our friendship and we actually got a lot of flack for it, especially him.

yes, *gasp* it’s a guy!

He was my partner at work and as a lot of partnerships go, you tend to get very close with each other. Only thing that made it extra odd was he’s a big tattooed tough, deep mumbling voice guy who doesn’t take anything from anyone, (read: looks like a thug) and I was a straight lace, by the book girl who had people take bets on when I would cuss.

I remember this one time when I found an ad in Craigslist for a free bed in a city 1 1/2 hours away, I called him up, asked if I could borrow his truck and next thing I knew, we were on the road. Anyone that saw us together would do a double take…if anyone’s been to San Luis Obispo, CA, you know if you saw a “thug” walking into a yogurt shop with a white girl, you’d be looking for an exit, trust me.

We were eating our yogurt in his truck that night, when these teen boys parked next to us, clearly drunk (nice, right?) and as they walked by the back of the truck, they jumped on his bumper and walked away. He jumped out of the truck, “said some words” and those boys were practically peeing in their pants, apologizing a hundred times.

What made it even greater was an hour later, he was having his smoke by the back of the truck (since he knew I hated it) and the boys had to walk by him. They were still apologizing as they got in their car.

I realize this is odd, me talking about my old partner.

We weren’t anything more than friends, believe me. Everyone speculated but he always stood up for me, setting the guys straight, even though it resulted in them calling him Mr. …and my last night. gotta love that.

I’ve been thinking about loyalty. Not many friends can say they have that loyal friend.

Even though this might be awkward, I can’t think of any of my other friends that would choke another man to the point of making them cry because he called me a b****.

Is it odd that I chuckle at that every time I think about it!? I realize how bad it is to choke another person out over a word, but the level of devotion he had, is beyond my understanding. And what makes it even more so, is I wasn’t even there when the guy called me this. It was my day off, which just makes it even funnier crazier to me.

Sorry, I realize a lot of you aren’t accustomed to my work stories or ‘prison Emily’ but I think about him often and how we were the unlikely pair. I always tell G-man it would be so fun for them to meet. I have no doubt G-man would thank him for watching over me at work.

Do you have a friend like this? Not necessarily one that would choke someone, but who would do anything for you?

::did I just freak you out by this story?!::

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The “A” team

Back in December, my friend asked if I’d do their family pictures. I asked if she was sure 3 times before agreeing to do them. {a person can never be too sure, you know?} We set a date after Christmas and were gearing up for the day. Then the day before they ended up getting sick and we had to postpone.

Almost 3 weeks later, we were back on with the weather being more beautiful than the original day albeit a little chilly. {I love it when that happens} If you remember, I teased with this picture all that time ago.

We had a couple locations in mind. The old train station and the beautiful walnut orchard that I truly can’t get enough of. Since weather has been so odd here, it felt like fall (in January) with the leaves on the ground all crisp and golden. It was perfect. {except when you wanted to talk. the leaves crunching drowned everything out. a gun could have gone off and we wouldn’t have heard it.}

I had such a difficult time narrowing them down. There are so many that I love.

It was a crazy fun day for everyone. I can’t even tell you how much I learned, only to show me just how much more I need to learn, but I had fun in the process. And as long as momma’s happy with them, I’m happy.

If you’re thinking you recognize the husband, you probably do. He’s the one that did the amazing artwork I talked about in January.

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A thankful me - 8

Welcome to the last week of the month…I cry.

Okay, maybe I’m not crying, but I might be. Me and time haven’t been friends lately. This is my first week back home and true to myself, I’ve been holed up inside my apartment away from everyone. After having to go to the grocery store Wednesday since the fridge was empty and my friend dropping off my house key later that day, I stayed indoors and didn’t talk to pretty much anyone.

I only just talked to my mom for the first time yesterday, and that’s only because she called. –sorry mom.

I don’t deal well with being back home and normally its easier if I avoid people and questions and well…everything. {its mature, I know} but its how I cope.

I’m doing better today (hooray), so have no fear this is in fact an upbeat post…contrary to popular belief.

I’m thankful for:
- safe trip home. From the airport debacle, to the stench of vomit on the plane, to not leaving for home until after the accident was clear on the 405, to the long dark drive home, I was so thankful to be done.
- my dear friend who picked me up from the airport and let me hang w/her and her daughter all afternoon.
- hearing a 1 1/2 year old say my name. It’s the most precious thing ever.
- my sweet friend who collected my mail for the 3 weeks I was gone and organizing it for me.
- hulu plus for catching me up on all the shows I missed. Once Upon a Time and Up All Night, anyone?! (my favorites!)
- getting to watch from the start, Major Dad. Watching a show as an adult that I used to watch as a kid is eye opening and hilarious. I can’t count how many times I’ve laughed out loud watching this show.
- getting to cheer at the season finale of Downton Abbey. I looooved it!
- losing myself in a really funny book.
- coffee.
- coffee.
- coffee. Without it, I’d be a lesser man *cough* err, woman.

Now for an absolutely random question for all you “been pregnant” ladies. Caffeine is bad, yes? They tell you to stay away from coffee when pregnant/nursing…? But what do they say about soda? Can that be drank? If you NEVER drink caffeinated soda but drink coffee in moderation, wouldn’t that be ok?

:: let me clarify, this is something I always think about since one day, in a land far far away, when a baby decides to appear in my belly, I wouldn’t want to give up coffee…ever! With that said, I never drink soda…so enlighten me, please. :) ::

See? I love it so, I used it for my ‘drink’ picture. OOh, how I heart you coffee.

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