Welcome December!

Photo taken by Andy Cross, The Denver Post
This is NOT my work, I just love the picture!
Click on the link to see the original photo.

I love the snow! It's beautiful. It's clean. It's fresh. It's cold! And the first day of December welcomed us with lots of snow, cold... and wind.

I love waking up to fresh fallen snow and watching the pup run out and faceplant into a wind-blown pile of that gorgeous white stuff! The pup loves the snow. She could spend all day out in it. Maybe I should look at getting her some of those winter booties. Lol!

I didn't get out and take any pictures today. I was way too busy with work and only left the house for a few minutes to clear a little of the driveway. The pic above of the pup was taken back on the first snowfall in October. But I couldn't help but share, since it did in fact snow today!

Wouldn't it be wonderful for it to snow for Christmas?! I remember a few years ago that it actually did snow on Christmas morning. That was the best gift! (other than the TRUE gift of Christmas of course!) But it's been awhile since we've had snow on the ground on Christmas. Last year, it was 60 some degrees and the boys were out playing football in the street and my dad was washing his car. So weird!

But anyway, hooray for snow! I'm a bit disappointed that we haven't gotten our Christmas lights up outside yet, but the beauty of the snow during the day is making up for it. :) I hope it sticks around for awhile!

Happy December 1st!

It's on days like this that I get so frustrated that it takes me an hour to get ready for work, and my hubby is up and walking out the door, lunch and coffee in hand, within 10 minutes of crawling out of bed.

But then he goes and squeezes in time to do this:

And then I'm not sure if I'm frustrated or impressed. :P

Happy Birthday my sexy husband! You are the greatest man and I am so happy to have you in my life!

The perks of working from home:

 


I get to enjoy lunches like this!

Mmmm, yummy muffin!

I stopped by King Soopers today to grab some coffee... since my hubby is on a cleanse, I've been trying to be considerate and not fix food or drink when he's around. Don't want to tempt him to stray from his plan. :)

But today was a much-needed caffeine day. So I went to Tullys since I am soooooo close to getting my free coffee (buy 7 get 8th free, nice eh?). Decided the muffin sitting there in the case was calling my name.

(*sorry hun for the impulsive buy*).

Unfortunately the coffee wasn't that great. And I think he gave me a grande instead of the venti I requested. Being that I was still half-asleep, I didn't really notice this fact until I was already at the office. Oh well.

But yummy muffin! I mean, it's not amazing, but it is doing the trick.

I still think my blueberry muffins are the best!

But being that I've given my word to try not to fix any food at the house when the hubby is home, or anything that might cause a good smell to linger long after cooking, then I cannot make my blueberry muffins right now. And since I don't want to eat 12 of them by myself, I will refrain from cooking any bakery-style products for the time being.

I've been reading this devotional every day. Well, trying to read it every day. And I've been able to keep up with it for the most part since I started January 1st. The past week I've been crazy busy and I let my schedule dictate my time, rather than taking a few moments before I started my day to sit and meditate with God. This book has been really convicting to me, especially lately.
I've gotten behind the past couple days and now I'm thinking that that has been God's Plan all along. This is how He has been teaching me... He let's me struggle and ask "why", then He lays it all out in this devo that I should've read back on that day, but instead am reading today. Maybe it's because I wouldn't have listened in that moment if I had read it when I should. Maybe it's because I needed to struggle through it before I would really understand by reading it. Maybe it's His way of teaching me that I need to slow down in my life and learn more about leaning on Him to plan my path.
Here's a little of what I caught up on this morning before work:

"Thankfulness is a safeguard against sin. Gratitude enables you to see Me shining on all your circumstances."

"Waiting on Me means directing your attention to Me in hopeful anticipation of what I will do. It entails trusting Me with every fiber of your being, instead of trying to figure things out yourself."

"Be still in My presence, even though countless tasks clamor for your attention. Nothing is as important as spending time with Me."

"Accept the limitations of living one day at a time. When something comes to your attention, ask Me whether or not it is part of today's agenda. If it isn't, release it into My care and go on about today's duties. When you follow this practice, there will be a beautiful simplicity about your life: a time for everything and everything in its time."

 

And my favorite right now:

"When you are weary and everything seems to be going wrong, you can still utter these four words: I trust you Jesus."

RESEARCH

So I've been doing a lot of research on a new camera and I love love LOVE all the freebees that some websites and blogs are having. It's giving me a new perspective on the items out there because I see the freebee and then immediately have to go do some research on that particular item before I decide if it's worth it or not to "try for it".

I never win anything anyway. Well, not completely true. I did win season tickets to the Chargers when I was like 10 yrs old. But funny thing about that is - I never went to even 1 game. My parents and brothers went. Everyone just assumed that I didn't want to go because I really wasn't that into football at the time.

Let me just clarify here... I wasn't into watching hours and hours of football on tv at the time. Actually, I'm still not, although my husband has gotten me involved a little more over the years. Is it wrong that I watch sports on tv while sitting on the couch next to him with a project or book in my lap? I'm still 'watching', right? :)
So back to the freebees. I've looked at camera bags. I've looked at cameras. I've looked at software. I've even looked at other hints and tips from those websites. And I've been taken to new websites from referrals from those blogs/websites as well.

I've come across all kinds of information - good, bad, and even yes some of the ugly. Mostly though it's been really good for me as I've been able to get a wide variety of reviews on certain products and I've been able to solidify in my mind what items I need, what would be 'fun' to have, and what products are a waste of my hard-earned money.

The latest freebee came from doing my own research on some cameras I was looking at. I googled my items and one of the listings took me to the Snapsort Blog. Now, I usually don't pay attention much to the blogs themselves... there are so many blogs and so many reviews that there just isn't time to look through one's entire website when all I'm really interested in is the certain product being reviewed on that single page/post. But Snapsort is different. For some reason, it caught my eye and I began streaming through the pages of the blog and seeing what else they had to say.

Probably the first thing I noticed was their logo. It was clean, simple, modern, yet had a sense of mystic about it. I wondered where the color choices came from. Why the order of the colors? Why the certain larger diameters? I didn't have too much time to ponder all that right then because I was curious about some of the posts they had. So I read on...

 

I'll say, the blog page is simple. Other than the little pieces within the logo, there is no color, no excitement, and no interesting parts (aside from the posts themselves) on the blog, in the background, or in the side columns. Part of me says, "where's the visual intrigue - it's just so bland, so boring, so white!". But the other part of me says, " oh how clever and simple. they are keeping the focus on the post content and not cluttering the page with unneeded filler." It appears that the design comes from the posts themselves and everything else is just in its place.

The header at the top contains the logo. It's where you look if you ever forget where you're at (ie, who's post you're on). Then there is the menu bar. Clean, organized, you know where each takes you without having to do a text click. :) Then comes the fun stuff... the post content. They seem to post something new every couple of days, sometimes once a week, which is perfect for me and my busy schedule. It's so hard to keep up with some bloggers who blog several times a day. By the time I can get back to their site I have 20 posts to look through and I miss a lot of good information. So I like that they keep us informed about products and interesting pieces of information, but not overload us with silly stuff.

One thing I do wish they had was a search button. Or a better way to search for specific reviews or certain key words. I didn't notice one, but maybe I was just enthralled with the pieces of clear, to the point information that I found on their site. And I suppose they have the 'categories' list on the right side that will get you to where you want for now.

Well, I'm heading back to Snapsort to do some more research. You should check them out! Oh, and they have a newer post about a great photographer back in the day! I've seen the news videos and articles about her already, but kept reading through their post about her, just because she's so awesome. Well, that and I wanted to see what they had to say too. Gotta love people's opinions! Check it out here:

Vivian Maier: an amazing unknown street photographer

Oh, and they have a couple great freebees right now. :)

It's what's for dinner.

"You are feeling weighed down
by a plethora of problems, both big and small.
They seem to require more and more of your attention,
but you must not give in to those demands.
When the difficulties in your life feel
as if they're closing in on you,
break free by spending
quality time with Me.
You need to remember who I AM in all
My Power and Glory.
Then, humbly bring Me your prayers and petitions.
Your problems will pale when you view them
in the Light of My Presence.
You can learn to be joyful in Me, your Savior,
even in the midst of adverse circumstances.
Rely on Me, your Strength;
I make your feet like the feet of a deer,
enabling you to go on the heights."
Jesus Calling, by Sarah Young

Yikes! I need to get back into posting... I've been absent awhile. But for now, check this out!!!!!

Kelly Moore Camera Bags for Men and Women!

Yummy! I want one. :)