Living out loud in the Carolinas
Today is day 1 of Late Winter 2009 Photo Bloggy Days. I am not documenting today because really all today is for me is meds, naps, and oatmeal. I have another ear infection. But tomorrow I’m gonna have to drag myself around town so there will be more exciting things to photograph.
I will post links to all the participants here on Sunday.
Take your camera with you to bed tonight so you’ll wake up with it tomorrow! PhoBloDays are here!
American Idol is coming on tonight. Just like every other week I will record the episode on the dvr so I can skip commercials and rewind if necessary. And then I will sit there and judge these people. I know, I know, thou shalt not judge and glass houses and all. But I can’t help myself! Now, I can’t carry a tune in a bucket. I am tone deaf. I have no idea what pitch really is. But every January when Idol rolls around I turn into a music guru. Why these people don’t listen to me, I don’t know. It’s almost as if they’ve never even watched the show themselves! They make the same mistakes every year. If I could grab a contestant back stage and give them some tips here’s what I’d tell them:
Whew. Now that I’ve got that out of my system I’m ready for the next group of singers! I’ve got my cell phone charged and I’m ready to vote!
Happy Mardi Gras!
My present to you? It’s time for Spring Photo Bloggy Days! When? Friday & Saturday February 27 & 28, 2009
What to do?
Take a picture at least once every 2 hours. Photograph everything:
your breakfast, the inside of your shower, your view when you wake
up, what you see on your commute to work, your desk, your lunch, you
get the idea! Things you think are every day and mundane to you are
interesting to us!
Post your photos of Friday & Saturday February 27 & 28, 2009. You can do both days to show the difference between work & play, or just the one day.
I wanted to include a business & non-business day for variety. For
those of us who don’t work outside the home, don’t fret- there’s tons
of stuff for you to photograph!
Join our Flickr PhoBloDays photogroup! http://flickr.com/groups/photobloggy/
Take pics of your day then post them later. Like you can take pics
all day Friday then post them on Saturday or Friday night. Take your
Saturday pics then post them Sunday or Saturday night or Monday even.
No need to continually post throughout the day. Although you can do
that too if you’d like. It’s totally laid back about when you post.
Just make sure your photos are of Friday and/or Saturday. The main
goal is to be able to go to different blogs and see what our bloggy
friends were doing at the exact same time. Like I wonder what Lisa in
Baltimore was doing while I was having lunch in Charlotte. That kind
of thing.
Carry your camera with you all day. Start now to get into the habit.
Go to sleep with your camera by your side!
If you’d like to take part remember to leave a comment or
email me heyshanny at gmail dot come to let me know and I’ll link to you on the big day.
Now, how to upload all those pics quickly? What if you want to upload to Flickr, your blog and Facebook at the same time? Try Pixelpipe! Thank you Michelle M. for telling me about this free time saver! It’s so easy and super fast. Go here for details.
Hope you’ll play!
Yesterday morning I woke up early (it can be done) and picked up Sara at her house. We drove to IKEA to drop off our sweepstakes entries in the hopes to be one ( or two) of the 10 who will win a $1000 gift card. There were a ton of flag people directing us to our parking space. The line was already wrapped around the right side of the building at 9:30 am. I was not looking forward to standing in that line. Luckily when we walked up they let us skip the line and go right in. We started up the escalator and were almost at the top when we heard squeals. Susan was standing at the top of the escalator with Will & Miss. O. “I can’t believe I beat you hear!!!” she yelled. There were hugs all around then we started into the crowds, following the arrows on the floor. It was Sara’s first time and she was, of course, amazed. She instantly fell in love and her wish list started to grow. We made it through the top floor in less than an hour then stopped for breakfast in the cafe. After our super inexpensive breakfast ($5.70 for both of us!), we made our way downstairs and through the marketplace. By now it was seriously crowded. People bumping into each other. I don’t like crowds. It was almost a mob scene in textiles. Sara and I got seperated a couple of times by the crowd but we finally made it into the warehouse and to the check out. We used the self check out and were out in no time. I’ve never spent so little at IKEA. All I bought were 2 toilet brushes, 1 pack of coffee, 1 pack of cinnamon rolls, a candle, and a bottle of peach drink. The rolls and coffee were for CSP. He was bummed he couldn’t go with us since he had to work.
We dropped off our entry forms and found our car. It took longer to get out of the parking lot than it did to get in! It was SO crazy out there by this time (almost noon), but IKEA had it all under control. Police officers were stationed everywhere directing traffic. It was like the Pope was in town or something.
I’m so excited to have IKEA so close to home! I can’t wait for the seasonal things to get stocked. I’ve already got 2 more trips planned for this week!
For those of you who don’t know, CSP is my husband Jon. He doesn’t like for me to put his name on the WORLD WIDE WEB so he needed a nickname. Luckily my girlfriends stepped in and came up with Captain Safety Pants- CSP for short. He is called this because he is OBSESSED with safety, but in a really odd way. My favorite example is when I was buying a new car shortly after we got engaged. He was totally against a sunroof because it was “just another way for people to break in”. Riiiight. Because every time I walk out into a parking lot I can spot dozens of robbers perched on the roofs of their target cars. Never mind that the entire car is wrapped in glass! Windows all around but my robber’s gonna climb up on the roof and rappel in to snatch my iPod.
Anyway, last week we received a letter from the city that they would be cutting off water to our neighborhood from 9 am to 2:30 pm one day while they did some sort of water pipe work or something. CSP erupted in curse words. How dare they limit his water usage! He’s a tax payer daggummit! So we went to bed the night before the fateful day with him still muttering about the injustice of it all. The next morning I woke up early for some sort of appointment. CSP woke up and asked me to fill up the bathtub with water. He didn’t have to be to work til 1pm and needed some water to sponge off with. I told him just to get his ass up and get in the shower now. I was not going to fill the bathtub with gallons of water he would just be wasting later. He agreed to the shower idea (brilliant, I know) and I went on my way. I came home later after he was at work and found that even though he had taken his shower he felt the need to stockpile water. I guess just in case we dehydrated in that precious few hours. He had filled up a gallon jug with water. He filled his bathroom sink with water. He filled every plastic cup in his reach to the brim with water. It was like walking on to the set of Signs. Swing away, CSP, swing away.
CSP plays patty cake with Zoe (sort of)
Originally uploaded by heyshanny
CSP has this thing he does with Zoe that just cracks me up. They both lay down on their bellies and he slaps the ground. Zoe copies him. Then a slapfest ensues. Love it! ***Let the whole thing load before you watch. It’s better this way.
Sunday night on my way home from Papa & Gigi’s house I drove by the new IKEA. 
I took a couple of pictures, 
but didn’t get too close. 
It was cold and rainy and there were cones up everywhere. Tonight CSP & I drove by again after running a bunch of errands. There was a lady standing by the stoplight, wrapped up in a scarf, hat and mittens against the cold. I rolled down my window and asked if we could drive in to get some pictures. She said her job was to stand out there and tell people that the store wasn’t open yet. She told me I could go on in and “get to snappin!” There were 3 other people in the parking lot directing us with orange flags. Then we came upon a man with a flag who stopped us.
“Y’all here to look?”
“Yes. Is it ok if I take some pictures?”
“Just follow that car there.”
As I pulled away from him we could hear him laughing at us. Crazy people taking pictures of a furniture store.
IKEA had set up porta johns for the campers. 
And patio heaters! 
Here are the campers. 3 tents, 5 campers. 
IKEA (I’m assuming) had a table out for them with coffee and snacks! And there was music! 
And lots of people milling about. It seemed like a pretty safe situation. But COLD. Like 40 degrees already and it was only 8pm. Too cold to camp out for a Poang chair!
Had to break into the puggy bank. 
But now we can plan a nice anniversary dinner! It will be 8 years on March 3rd!
Friday night we went to my sister Sara‘s gallery debut. We all felt very grown up. Two of her photos are now hanging in a gallery! 
That’s Marc (my BIL) and Sara with her photos. Sara framed them really nicely and the gallery put them in a great spot, right up front. There was lots of milling about and mingling. 
Papa, Gigi, Momo, Marc, and I all came to support Sara. 
I tried to take a group shot of us myself but it didn’t work out. 
I may be biased, but I think Sara’s photos were some of the best in there. By a LONG shot! I did like this picture though. Be sure to click on it to enlarge. It’s a TEENY tiny baby hummingbird perched on a person’s thumb! 
Impossibly cute! Check out the rest of the pics from the night here. I’m so proud of Sara!
Bless Your Heart 