July 31, 2010

Stella!

Meet Stella Rose, Jay and Jen's new baby. They got her today, she is a 6 1/2 week old Weim. She went on an adventure with us to Woznarama 3 today. Every year, friends of ours (Jake and Jen) have a rib cook off at their house. There were 3 teams that made ribs and there were 3 distinctly different tasting ribs to vote for. Jon and I had different opinions, but the guys I voted for won. So there.

July 30, 2010

This was the beautiful sunrise I witnessed this morning on my way to work. I took it on Hazel Street between Auten and Brick. It was taken at 6:46 am.

July 29, 2010

Duke is still loving the weather. He likes to lounge on the deck in the sun and enjoy a nice breeze.

July 28, 2010

Nice weather we've been having here lately. Actually, my grass could use some rain.

July 27, 2010

Duke's allergies have started up for the year. Every year at this time, he starts getting the itch. And he keeps licking his paws until they are raw and he starts limping. We've upped his dosage of Benadryl, but I swear that it doesn't do anything at all. So we got him an E-Collar a.k.a. the Cone of Shame. It looks brand new now, but in about a month, it will start to look pretty ghetto. He runs into walls with it and hits the couch with it when he goes to jump up. Pretty soon, it will be cracked in a few places and taped up with packing tape. Oh, and when he makes a quick turn of his head right near your leg, the result is a nice sharp slice to the skin. It's fun for all!

July 26, 2010

I did a lot of editing today of Tasha's pregnancy pics. I took the pictures on Wednesday and promised her that I would give them to her tonight. Well, I worked all weekend, and barely got to edit any. So I finagled today off by getting someone to cover my shift at work. I'm glad I did. If I tried to get them done between the time I got home from work (about 4pm) and the time I had to leave to get to the ball game to give them to her (about 530pm), she would have been very disappointed with the results. I worked on them for about 5 hours. I also used my Wacom Bamboo tablet for better precision. The pen works as your mouse and you get so much better accuracy while editing. Maybe if I had better equipment, like an external flash or nicer backdrops, I wouldn't have to edit so much. (Are you listening Oprah, the queen of giving stuff away for free?) She was pleased with the results.


When driving home, I saw this awesome cloud while passing a big corn field on State Line Road. It looks like thin smoke wafting off of a cigarette.

July 25, 2010

This is a picture of a picture. Julie found this picture I took of her back when we did a Planorama. I think it's in St. John, Indiana, but I'm not sure. Target has some pretty nice marketing signs, don't ya think?

July 24, 2010

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

*facepalm*

July 23, 2010

It's stormin' season. Poor Duke looks so distraught here. He gets very anxious during storms and sits right on top of you when he gets scared. If I'm at the desk, he sits right up against me and keeps backing up every 2 seconds. Even if he doesn't have anymore room to back up. It's so cute. He just wiggles his butt back and forth. He finally laid down here, but his butt is still half under the desk. Poor guy.

July 22, 2010

Jon and I had brinner tonight. Scramble eggs, bacon, hash browns and toast. Mmmm mmmm good. Then we watched Iron Chef America Breakfast Battle. Everything looked awesome, of course. Learned some stuff.

July 21, 2010

I took preggo pictures today of my friend Tasha. She is about 34 weeks, but probably not gonna make it the full 40. We took them in the nursery at her house. She said she was cold and put something in front of the register in the room to block the A/C. She asked me if that was alright. I told her she needs to do whatever she needed to be comfortable, don't worry about me. Damn it was hot in there. I was sweating!

July 20, 2010

This morning it hit me. I'm getting old.

July 19, 2010

So, odd thing happened when I was taking my picture of the day today. Let me set the scene.

I was laying on the couch watching America's Funniest Videos when I looked out the window and saw a nice serene glow in the sky. I went outside to take a picture of it, seeing as how I didn't take my pic-of-the-day yet. While I was standing on the deck taking a picture, I heard my Duke growl/bark the way he does when he sees a rabbit. So as soon as I turn around, I see two whitetail deer run behind my truck in the driveway and into the woods that border our backyard.

No, I didn't get a picture of them.

July 18, 2010

Jon tried to make his Xbox avatar look as 'sassy' as possible.

July 17, 2010

Today was kind of a girl's day. My mom and I picked up Lauren and Morgan and took them to St. Mary's College to take pictures. Most of them turned out good. A lot of them were ruined by the sunshine. Believe it or not, sunshine is your enemy when taking outdoor pictures. Afterwards, we went to Culver's for lunch. The girls were more interested in playing with their food than eating it. Even after they ate and got their ice cream, they were completely enthralled with the pieces of cookie dough in the ice cream. I tried to convince Morgan that if the cookie dough was in her belly and she played outside in the hot sun, the cookie dough would bake into cookies in her belly. She wasn't buying it.

July 16, 2010

Today was tattoo day. My BFF Jen got her first tattoo today at Point Blank Tattoo and Body Piercing in South Bend. (I threw the name in there because I highly recommend them. See Jason for all your tattoo needs.) She got a Gerbera Daisy on her left foot. They recently lost their beloved pet, Daisy. Jen was going to get this tattoo anyway and had been talking about it for awhile. When Daisy passed, she said it was time. There are 3 leaves on the stem. Two big ones and one little one, representing Jen, her husband and their son, Ethan.

July 15, 2010

I seem to have a fruit theme going on lately. I bought some strawberries because I wanted Duke to try them to see if he liked them. Well, who am I kidding. He'll eat anything. A little unknown fact about Duke--when we're not home, he occasionally gets into the spare room and steals poop nuggets out of the litter box. Believe me, we do our best to keep him out of there. But he's not a quitter. But I digress. He loved the strawberries.

July 14, 2010

Finally!

2 or 3 Chirstmases ago, Jon bought me this collage frame. I actually picked it out and put it on my list. But it has taken me this long to finally get pictures printed and put in it. It kind of became a running joke between us that I waited so long to do anything with it. It sat in the closet of our spare room. I surprised Jon today by filling it up with fun memories of friends and family and hanging it on the wall in the living room. He was pleasantly surprised to see it when he got home from work.

July 13, 2010

I haven't had a gin and tonic in so long. It was refreshing on this hot summer day.

July 12, 2010

I feel like my Monday pictures are getting a little boring with all the softball pictures. Well, the guys only have 1 game left. Next week is a bye week, and the following Monday is their last game. They are currently in 7th place out of 12 teams. I think the olden days of championship seasons are over.

July 11, 2010

Jon made jambalaya for dinner.

July 10, 2010

After work today, my mom and dad picked up me and Jon and we drove up to St. Joe for the Krasl Art Fair on the Bluff. I would say that it was about 80% photographers and painters. There were some jewelry, craft and sculpture booths as well. We stopped at Kilwin's for some kick ass homemade lemonade. Then we got the treat of the day on the drive home. We encountered this van. At first we thought the van looked a little ridiculous because it had a huge spoiler on the top of it. Did the driver need more down force so that he didn't fly away as he drove really, really fast? Then when we got up to see what loser was actually driving this vehicular wonder, we saw this.

WTF?

July 9, 2010

Here's Julie at work being all managerial. She was the only closing LOD tonight, and she felt it necessary to wear a collared shirt and khaki slacks. As opposed to her usual low cut shirts and khaki Levis corduroys. She wanted to make sure she looked important in case some guest had to complain to her or something.

July 8, 2010

Mmmm...breakfast. Needless to say, we still have a lot of watermelon left. It was huge!

July 7, 2010

Duke tried watermelon for the first time. He loves it. We can't even pull the big green Tupperware out of the fridge without him running up and begging, because he knows exactly what is in there. Now I don't know that a lot of people feed their dogs fruits and vegetables, but the vet has recommended that over feeding them dog treats. Duke happens to love bananas, apples, baby carrots, green beans and, now, watermelon.

July 6, 2010

Jon came home from work and munched on some leftover ribs from the 4th of July cookout. Duke was waiting patiently for his share. He's still waiting...

July 5, 2010

The guys lost their first game and won their second. We had problems with the umpire again. This is the commissioner's brother, so we can't really complain to anyone. But he obviously doesn't know what he's doing. Half the guys on the softball team have been playing softball longer than this kid has been alive. And one of the players is also an umpire in the South Bend league. But what can you do?

July 4, 2010

Happy Birthday America!!


Today, Jon and I went over to my parent's for a little cookout. It was only us 4, so not a big to-do. My mom and I both made ribs. We also had corn on the cob on the grill, hot dogs, beer cheese dip and pretzels, mac and cheese and watermelon. Later, early evening, Jon and I drove out to Pine Lake in Laporte to meet up with Jay and Jen and some friends of theirs who have a pontoon boat. We docked on the beach and the kids and some of the adults swam for a bit. Then we went out into the middle of the lake to watch fireworks. We just anchored out and sat for a while watching all the fireworks being let off all around the lake. Literally, all around the lake. They were going off everywhere. And the night was so clear, nothing but stars up above. That's a way of life I could get used to.

July 3, 2010

It was a hot one today. We mowed the lawn and did some odds and ends outside. Then we got Duke's pool out for a dip. Unfortunately we forgot that we put on his Frontline yesterday. I hope he didn't get too wet to wash it all off. Technically, you're not suppose to bathe your dog within 2 days of applying it, before or after. Oops.

July 2, 2010

Me and Jon and Chris and the girls drove to New Buffalo to watch fireworks tonight. It's tradition that we scoop out 'seats' in the sand to watch from. Basically, we just dig a hole deep enough for our butts and pile the excess sand up for a backrest. Works perfectly. Chris was the only one who brought a chair. I must say, we were a little disappointed with the fireworks. They started at about 9:55 (it was still light out) and lasted about 10 minutes. The finale was really weak. Oh well, blame it on the economy.

July 1, 2010

Rarely do I get a picture of all my babies sleeping all at once. Duke's head is nestled up against Bubba's rump while Pooper keeps his distance on top of the couch.

June 30, 2010

This was my new invention for the day. I browned some hamburger. I made some bacon and cut it up into pieces. I mixed the hamburger, bacon and some shredded cheese together. Then, I topped it with some tater tots and baked it in the oven according to the tater tot instructions. Wah lah! Bacon cheeseburger casserole. I put a little kethcup on it. It was scrumpcious.

I was off work today, and it was a beautiful day. I got a lot of cleaning done around the house. Caught up on some much needed laundry, including all the bedding, which I usually do on the weekend. We've had the air off for the past 2 days and all the windows open. I love this weather. I do believe it will be getting hot again coming up this weekend. Which is fine with me. It's a holiday weekend and I have Saturday, Sunday and Monday off. However, no one is having a cookout. I'm a little bummed. I might call my parents and ask if we can just come over there and hang out and cookout with them.