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Wednesday, March 30, 2011

WEDDING PORTFOLIO




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WEDDING PORTFOLIO, a set on Flickr.
Wedding season is upon us. If you're planning a wedding I'd love to talk to you about your photography needs. It's important to me that I capture what my clients are about.  My style is "Fun, Creative, and Beautiful."  If that's what you're wedding photography needs include, then I'm your girl! I promise to work within your budget!

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Oh Tuesday you're here and almost gone...

Tuesday night and here I am a belly full of roasted veggies and organic sour cream...oh me, oh my, the goodness! The smell, the taste! The roasted veggies BROUGHT IT! 


I took some photos of my co-worker Fabian.  He has his own  t-shirt company He made a business card that I think it SUPER CUTE. It's folded paper, like origami, and looks like a little shirt. I had to take a photo of it. Everybody, meet Fabian and his super cute business card! Check out his website (which he also designed and built). If you need T-shirts, a website or graphic design for something give him a shout, he'll hook you up! 
My other cowork, Cindy, or Cynthia as I like to call her, took a photo of me. 
I think it's funny! We laughed. 

We had freezing rain recently. It iced all the trees in the most beautiful way. It was like icing on a cake, so nice to look at. On my way into the parking lot at work I had to stop and take some photos of this tree. The bokeh (circle spots of light) are actually the light reflecting on the ice. 




I'll admit I was kinda of mean today, if you saw me you probably wouldn't even know it, but it was in there, just below the surface, bubbling away. I got home and had a good workout to sweat out the mean!  Honestly, I feel better!
Exercise, for me, is more for my mental health than anything else! 
Hope your Tuesday was a great one! 
Don't forget to put yourself first! You're worth it! 

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

What's Up With Me...

Have you heard the Jennifer Hudson song, "Feeling Good?" I'm posting a video of it here, be sure to check it out (be sure to pause the music on my blog so you can hear Jennifer sing her guts out). I am not really a Hudson fan, but I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this song and her version of it! It's from a Weight Watcher's commercial.  She got on board with WW and lost an undisclosed amount of weight. I've heard her talk about it and all she wanted to say was that she's now a size 8. Kudos to her, really, this weight thing is a b.... and it gets worse the older you get. If you struggle with losing weight and keeping it off I know you totally get it.

I'm being honest and real here and will confess that I've struggled with my weight for major portions of my adult life. I'm an honest to goodness emotional eater, throw in hormone loss, lack of exercise and you have a depressed, out of shape mess who prays daily for victory, freedom and help, which I feel has finally arrived!  I recently had a doctors appointment and some testing done and am awaiting the results. The doctor started me immediately on bio-idendical hormones and some supplements. Upon starting what she gave me I started feeling better the next day! I also recently bought a recumbent bike and have been doing Peak 8 workouts. Sweating and oxygen to the brain makes a significant difference in your outlook on life, I know this to be true. God has brought this all together, it's my time, it's my season, it's a new day and  I am "Feeling Good!" I have an undisclosed amount of weight I am going to leave behind. I'll just say that I'm going to be a size 8. 


Currently I'm reading the latest book by Suzanne Somers, "Sexy Forever," it's good and worth a read if you're forty or over.   


Shout out to Tinney Automotive!  I recently got a new car, they hooked me UP with a beautiful new Chevrolet Cruze, which has been amazing on gas. If you need a new or used car go to "Tinney Automotive," ask for Randy Bugg, or Vince Swift, be sure to tell them that Julie O'Dell sent you.


I should be working on my taxes so I can mail them to my tax man, I'm not, I'm bloggin!!!!


I'm loving my job! There's two Graphic Designers in my office that I oversee and we have big fun! I love them both so very much, they're good peeps!


Had "Knitting Night," at my house last night with some friends at work. It was such a great night, these are lovely ladies. We laughed, we cried, well at least I did, I always do. 


I'm looking forward to date night on Thursday night with some of my kids, I cook, we eat, watch our favorite shows and hopefully eat some chocolate. Some good chats, laughs, good eats, good times! 


Last but not least check out "Joss & Main." It's a site that you can join, for free, they have daily sales on unique home items.  I love it! Check it out! 
I'm still feeling citrusey (not a word but I'm taking a stand and using it). For "Knitting Night," I made some water with lemons, limes and oranges in it. May the force of citrus be with you...and I pray your "Feeling Good!"

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

FACT: We Have A Winner!

Like: The fact that it stays lighter longer in the evening.  

Like: Spring starts next week! 

Don't like: That when the time change happens we lose an hour of sleep. I feel like I'm still adjusting, but never fear I've taken a big girl pill and will carry on! 

Fact: We have a winner for the $40 CSN Store coupon. Drrrrruuuuurummmmmmmm rollllllllllllllllllllllllllll pppppppplease..........................................and the winner is CARLY SHOEMAKER!!!!!!   Carly I'll be contacting you with the coupon code to use for some fun stuff on the CSN Stores website. Congrats and enjoy! 

Fact: I recently purchased a recumbent bike, and more importantly have been actually riding it! Feels great to get the oxygen flowing. 

Fact: I have an appointment at The Born Clinic in the morning to have some blood work for my hormone levels.  I'm excited about it. I have wanted to have my hormone levels checked for a long time, I think it's going to be a key for getting my mojo back. 

Fact: My favorite Yo Gabba Gabba song is "Keep Trying." For those of you who don't know what Yo Gabba Gabba is;  it's a Preschool show with some great characters and guest band and artist appearances. I watch it with the grand babies on Friday night popcorn movie nights. 

Fact: I'm still loving citrus! Saturday I was doing a bit of a fast, I made a smoothie with these ingredients; the juice of one lemon, juice of three oranges, juice of one lime, frozen raspberries, frozen blueberries, half a banana, frozen strawberries, a handful of organic baby spinach and a teaspoon of coconut oil.  Blend the crap out of it and drink!   AWESOME!!!!!!    


Don't stop, don't stop
Don't give up, don't give up
Keep trying, keep trying
Don't give up, don't give up
Keep trying, keep trying 
You'll get it right, you'll get it right
Don't stop, don't stop
You'll get it right, you'll get it right
Keep trying, keep trying
Don't give up, don't give up
You'll get it right, you'll get it right! 

(sung to the tune of Keep Trying)

Simple message and oh so repetitive. 
For those reasons it gets stuck in your head, and is good for your soul! 

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

An Art Form and a Giveaway!

Today on the way home from work, driving through the fog, and wet roads in my apartment complex I was going slow just incase anyone was on the street walking their dog. On a street to my left I noticed a guy on a bike turning out onto the main road. This in and of itself doesn't sound very interesting but he was riding his bike and holding in one hand about eight plastic bags stuffed full of what looked like bottles and cans. I watched him ride down the road with ease and said to myself out loud,"That's an art form right there!" I've seen this guy before, he rides through my apartment complex on a regular basis looking through dumpsters for bottles and can's. Today it looked like he'd had a good day. It made me think back to a time about twenty five years ago when my dad would go around his town and look for bottles and cans and cash them in. He'd save all the money and then send it to me in the mail. It was something he did for me to help me out financially, how endearing is that? It meant so much to me because it sure wasn't glamourous for him to do that. He'd wear a one piece jumpsuit and would on occasion actually get into dumpsters if he saw bottles or cans in there. What a guy, what a character he was, what love for me he was exhibiting. I hadn't thought of this in years, such a nice memory. 


On to other things:I mentioned that I started a new position recently. I am loving it. I have two coworkers in my office that I'm having a ton of fun with, and yes we are getting work done. Lately we've been talking about how we want to rearrange our office to create creative work flow (at least that's what we're calling it), we're just ready to change it up a bit. We've been drawing diagrams and ideas on a huge whiteboard (thank you Betty for the hook up). One of the things we want to do is switch up our office desks.  


This leads me to my March Giveaway! Starting today, Wednesday, March 9th, 8:00 pm, and ending on Sunday, March 13th at 8:00 pm. To enter just leave me one comment a day, any kind of comment, just one per day one per person. I will randomly choose a winner on Sunday night and announce it on Monday.  The winner will get a $40.00 gift certificate to CSN Stores.  If you haven't checked them out you should, they've got everything, seriously everything, except they don't have a guy riding on a bike holding multiple bags of bottles and cans with style and finesse, but that's a good thing. 


The photo has nothing to do with anything about today's post...I just like it! 
It's my work boyfriend in his cowboy boots! ;)

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Quiet mornings...

This morning is like most of my mornings, me propped up in bed with pillows, my journal, bible, prayer notebook and my coffee. My quiet mornings started when I was a brand new Christian, my kids were little and to say my day's were busy would be an understatement. Just to find the time to be with God I would have to get up early in the morning while my kids were still sleeping. I have such fond memories of those day's, which over time have had a profound influence on my life. It's my quiet mornings that get me anchored in for the day. It's my time to say "hold me," grab His hand and hold on tightly. It's my way of saddling up and getting the strength I need to face what the day will bring. It's my time to put God first, which activates the principle "What you do with the first blesses the rest."

I just heard geese flying over my house, headed north, which is a good sign. I hear birds outside tweeting happily greeting the morning light. It's funny I can't see the sunrise from my quiet morning post but I can tell that light is arriving because the birds announce it and then are quiet again. One of my favorite verses is, 'When darkness comes light will come busting in, for the upright." Psalm 112:2. Day and night, dark and light, God is faithful through it all. I learned this from my quiet mornings!
I love my quiet mornings, if I'm running late for work it's because I don't want to leave the trysting place. The reality of my quiet mornings is that it's "Our time together!" Good morning everybody!

Friday, March 4, 2011

Citrus Love...

I recently started a new job, and it's keeping me a lot busier.  Photography and blogging have taken a hit, sorry for the very sparse updates on here. As I settle into my new normal I'm sure I'll get back to taking photos and blogging.I just thought an update would be a good thing.


Lately I have been loving all things citrus...eating oranges like nobody's business, lemon juice in water, yummo! 



 
If life is giving you lemons right now,
just know that everything is gonna be alright!
I truly believe that the best is yet to come,
I'm counting on it! 
Happy Friday!