So much to be thankful for

I bet you have seen these posts everywhere, right?  Sorry to be so cliche with the season, but I really am so thankful for so much this season.   As most of you know, the Midwest was hit heavily with tornadoes on the 17th, the town I live in Coal City/Diamond happened to be one of those hard hit towns.  I drove through the devastated area today, I could not believe my eyes.  In 10 days, the volunteers, home owners and the community has most of the debris out of the area and all that is left are very badly battered homes.  I was almost in tears as I rode through the neighborhood today. This was posted by the church that ran the collection site for the community, it describes this community perfectly. 

Now for my thankful list.... 1. Thankful for the family that I married into, I miss my mom dearly this holiday season and I know that even though I miss my mom they are here for me 2. My husband, he works so hard to provide for us.  I miss him a lot while he is working overnights and is gone 15 hours a day.   3.  My best friend Trisha, she has proven time and time again what an amazing person she is.   4.  My nieces and nephews, they keep me on my toes but I love them so much and am very lucky I get to have them in my life as often as I do.   5.  Thankful to have the support from my family for opening my photography business, I have a long ways to go, but they are supporting me 100%.   6. The group of women that have been a constant support system over the past 2 years; The September 2012 wives group....lobe you all Happy Thanksgiving to all.  I hope you are all able to spend it with family and loved ones. 

Devestation is all around me

Not a usual Sunday afternoon here in Coal City, IL.  I was relaxing with my niece and nephew on the couch, when the "emergency alert system" came across the television  "SEEK SHELTER NOW!"  I told my niece to go grab a dolly, I went upstairs to wake my husband up, put the dog on his leash and we headed to the basement.  We were in the basement for about 15 minutes, getting ready to go back upstairs when the first of 3 sirens that would go off in the next 30 minutes went off.  That is when it got scary, it was the "seek shelter now" siren, then the second siren went off within minutes of the second turning off the 3rd one came on and stayed on for over a minute.  Then I heard the rumble, it really does sound like a freight train rolling through.  During the time in the basement we had the police scanner app on my phone, we finally got the all clear.  As we are walking up the stairs, I hear "houses are damaged, people are trapped at Spring and Berta Rd."  Spring and Berta that is where my in-laws live, I called them immediately, they were fine, minimal damage to their house,their fence and trampoline were gone, but 3 houses down they are missing the whole side of their house.    The damage that I saw today is nothing I have ever seen in my life.  My heart aches for all these displaced families.    All photos are sourced from social media. 

This is on the block opposite to my in-laws

Damaged trailer from in town

Another house from the subdivision, that is a motor home sitting on that house.

This is from my in-laws subdivision

This was a bar in town

  This storm that ran through the Midwest today hit too close to home.  I am thanking God tonight that we are safe and everyone we know is safe.  Belongings and homes can be replaced, but our family members can not.  Tonight, let us all be thankful for what we have.   

The little things

Happy hump day!  The week is half over, only a few more days till the weekend, nothing big planned just nice to know that there is light at the end of the week.   Hump day happens to be one of my favorite days of the week, in the September wives 2012 group I am a part of we do "hump day, bump day" yes you guessed it, all our pregnant wives post their bumps.   I love looking at all the bumps and dream of the day I can participate in this day.  
I was able to spend some great quality time with my nephew Collin, he is my littlest best friend.  

Goofy front camera picture of us

We made homemade hot chocolate tonight and it was delicious.  Collin LOVES to be in the kitchen, so when he found out we got to make the hot chocolate on the stove, he was ecstatic!    Here is the recipe

Ingredients

• ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ⅓ cup hot water
• ⅛ tsp salt
• 4 cups milk (Dairy or non-dairy)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Quick and Easy instructions

1. Combine the cocoa, sugar, water, and salt in a medium saucepan.
2. Over medium heat, stir constantly until the mixture boils. Cook, stirring constantly for 1 minute.
3. Stir in the milk and heat, but do not boil.
4. Remove from the heat and add vanilla; stir well. Serve immediately.

We only had large marshmallows, so we ripped them apart! 

I bought it!!

If you have been reading along, you will know that I have been back and fourth about "pulling the trigger" about buying my very first DSLR so I can pursue my dream of photography.  That is exactly what I did last night, I bought my Canon Rebel T5i and I am in love!  This purchase also marks another completed item on my 30before30 list.  

Canon Rebel T5i 18-135mm STM lens

I have spent all day playing around with it, I have ALWAYS been an auto focus gal, until I switched that dial to manual focus...Oh my goodness, I will never go back.  I have so much to learn, but I am having a great time so far. The weather was not very nice today, so I was limited to shooting from my front porch.  Here are a few unedited, straight out of the camera images I took today. 

Check it off the list

One of my things to do for my 30before30 list is to mail out a letter or card to two random friends a month.  I did this for October on the 31st, nothing like waiting till the last minute to get something done.  

At the post office getting ready to go out.  

Pinterest canvas project

So I attempted a Pinterest project last night.  I was feeling very ambitious and thought "this is going to be awesome and I can not wait".   Then I entered Hobby Lobby and went on a crafters over load, my Pinterest would not load on my phone and realized I was in way over my head. 

I wandered around the store for a little over an hour with my girlfriend while we gathered supplies for her project and then I said "I think I will just wing it".  

I was wanting to do a large canvas, with vinyl stickers and paint the canvas in a teal.  After much realization of the possible cost of all the craft supplies and was having crafters remorse before it was even purchased.  The vinyl bird stickers were $24.99, the canvas was $22.99 and I still had to buy paint. Then we stumbled upon the 2 pack canvases for $3.99, they were significantly smaller than I wanted, but it would be a good practice.  But what to do about the vinyl birds?  I found an awesome stencil and figured it would work out well.  

Here is what I wanted....

Here is what I made...

Simple steps 

1. Paint canvas to desired color

2. let dry and then apply stencil and paint stencil

3. let dry and hang where you want. 

I will be on the look out for Hobby Lobby to have the vinyl birds and canvases on sale, that way I can try the actual canvas project I wanted. 

I am very pleased with the results and it is currently hanging in my bedroom.

Check out other Pinterest projects here

My hubby is 32!!

Happy Birthday to my husband Bill, he turned 32 today.  It is hard to believe that I knew and dated him when he was 19 years old and that this is the 3rd birthday since we have been together.  Makes me think how quickly time flies, when you're having fun, in love and enjoying life.

I made him a coffee mug, you know one of the Pinterest mugs that you draw on with Sharpies, then bake?  It looked great, then...I baked it and my colors faded.  My purple turned to grey and my red to a burnt orange.  It is still pretty neat, just not as bright as it was before it was baked.

After it was baked

I bought him a funny card ( I am known for the sappy cards, so I think he was pleasantly surprised by my funny card), some Starburst candy and....

....I made him a homemade, from scratch birthday cake.  

I lit the candles and sang him "happy birthday"

Here is a fun, younger picture of my husband.

It looks like it is a picture of a picture, but he still has those dimples!

The boys behind the blog #5

I am so behind on blogging, there has been so much going on here and my broken laptop makes things very difficult.

I decided to participate in my first Boys behind the blog  link up.  I am actually pretty excited about this, I get to take this moment and share a bit about Bill.

There were 5 questions that were asked and Bill needed to answer them...I now leave the "floor" to Billy.

1.  Describe yourself in 5 words.
Loyal, truthful, stubborn, happy, in love

2. What is your biggest fear? Not being able to provide for my wife.

3.  What is your favorite candy?Starburst

4.  What is your favorite Halloween costume that you remember? In 7th or 8th grade I dressed as a girl.

5.  Who is your favorite sports team? Chicago Bears

My hubby Bill on our 1 year wedding anniversary trip to Atlantic City.  This is one of my FAVORITE pictures, I love his smile!  

Goals, dreams and a bucket list

October Daily  asks us to write about  goals and dreams for the future? You can share to us your dream house, dream workplace, or even your bucketlist before you turn 25!
Well since I just turned 29 3 days ago, I am out for the bucket list for "under 25", but I did do my "30 before 30" list.  It is a good list that is very attainable, I look forward to completing it.   Goals and dreams; start my photography business!  I want this more than anything, well almost, I want babies more than anything. I want to be able to come to my husband and say "I'm pregnant"!  Until then, photography business.  I think it will be mostly out door family shoots, at least until I can come up with a suitable studio place to lease.  I am very motivated and excited about this upcoming adventure!  

A friend took a picture of me! 

Favorite word...LOVE

Today's October Daily day 15. Post your favorite word and describe it in photos.   "LOVE"

My husband with our niece and nephews! 

My nephew

Our one year anniversary. 

More of our wedding. 

Right after our vows.

Our first vacation together also known as our honeymoon

Our wedding day

Our furbabies

30 Before 30

So here it goes my "30 before 30" list, in no particular order. As I complete them I will cross them off and also link it to the post with photos (I hope, still trying to get a hang of all of this).   I hope to have it completed by October 13, 2014  1. Buy the Nikon D5200 kit with extra lens and accessories 2. Host a holiday 3.  Run a half marathon 4. Get at least 10 clients, that are not family to start off my photography business 5. Go to NYC 6. Get Prego 7. Continue to blog 8. Bring my husband to a Chicago Bears game, it would be my first Bears game 9. Start paying off student loans 10. Make a scrapbook of our anniversary notes from our wedding guests 11. Host a dinner party for some of my girlfriends 12. Organize my pantry; labels and containers for flour, sugar etc.  13. Organize my craft supplies and.... 14. ...make a craft area in the basement 15.  Go unplugged for at least 2 days 16.  Have a 2nd anniversary photo shoot 17.  Get another tattoo 18. Catch a fish or two  19. Do something awesome for stranger 20. Find and attend a murder mystery with my husband 21. Go to a pumpkin patch 22. Volunteer somewhere 23. Go ice skating down town Chicago 24. Attend an event where I have to dress up in a fancy dress 25.  Complete a full photo a day monthly challenge through instagram 26.  Print, organize and make photo albums of a lot of the photos I have taken 27.  Write a love note to my husband in "our book" at least once a week for a month 28.  Go camping 29.  Read at least 5 books 30.  Send a random note to at least 2 friends a month