a new take on post-its

I walked into work this morning to see that my desk had been labeled. With post-its. Every.single.thing. I swear if there was a piece of dust, it was labeled. Pretty comical and also goes to show my desk needs a little cleaning and organization. Mom, I'm sure you're cringing.

Yes, I have a little pig shrine behind my monitors.

I promise my desk doesn't look as messy when the post-its were removed.

Also, don't worry, I put my Lean Cuisine in the fridge shortly after taking this photo (inside joke).

My wall of PTG orders. Labeled. Ha.

home.sweet.home.

We got home today from our wonderful Florida vacation. We had such a nice time and Connor had so much fun! It was also amazing to get home and see my baby Grayson. And of course it looks like he's aged a few months, grew a whole bunch (out, not up, ha), crawls a little faster and talks a lot more! He was all smiles and cuddles though. He's also at the moment fighting sleeping in his crib...not so hard of a decision to just let him sleep with us tonight :)

So, at least one more post (depends how many photos I want to bore you with) on Florida coming soon :)

Oh, and how quickly we forget that before we left, 30s and 40s were great....now....I want to put on a gazillion layers and sip hot cocoa by the fire. Doesn't help that our furnace didn't work when we got home...

project 52 | week 6: yellow

Week six of Project 52: yellow.

Thought it'd be SUPER simple to find something yellow while in Florida, but we were we on the go nearly the entire week and I swear I didn't see much yellow. I was planning on trying to catch the sunrise or sunset or something with the sun, but didn't make that happen, either :) So, you're stuck with Luigi.

Challenge: Yellow
Subject: Luigi from Cars
Skill: Extreme sunlight. I had a really hard time seeing if the photos were turning out when looking at the back of my camera (I know, I know, rookie...) so I felt like I was just crossing my fingers that when I got back to a computer some of them would turn out. Not saying I succeeded, but they didn't turn out too horrible.

Next week (this week?) is our choice...not going to lie, might just go to the random word generator myself and have it pick a word for me :)

project 52 | week 5: wooden

Week five of Project 52: wooden.

Challenge: Wooden
Subject: My new wooden crate + one adorable baby!
Skill: Working on my photography of older babies :)

Next week (this week?) is yellow...sure hope to find something bright and yellow in sunny Florida!

grayson: eleven months

Mr. G is eleven months old today and you how that makes me feel? BEHIND on his first birthday party planning!! Geesh. I have the theme (monsters) and have collected some ideas (see my Pinterest board) and for awhile, I was feeling really on top of it. But since all I've done is collect ideas and not start working on anything, I feel behind. So, definitely need to get working on that! It'll be a joint party with Connor, should be fun!

So, things Mr. G is up to this month.

-finally started crawling! He's still not very speedy, and if you go too far away from him he gets whiny, but, definitely on the go.
-starting to pull himself up onto things, but only onto his knees, not standing yet. He'll stand there if we put him up to it, but can't get up on his own (kind of how I feel in my pilates class....haha)
-still only two teeth but considering he's been home from school since Monday afternoon with a fever and no other real symptoms or anything, I'm severely hoping this means more are on the way. I think I can somewhat feel them coming in on top, but he doesn't really enjoy me digging around in his mouth.
-18 month clothes
-even though he only has two teeth, he's become a lot better at eating solid foods and mushing them enough. His favorite of late is pizza. Loves it. Can babies have pizza? Ha.
- needs a haircut. Hope to achieve this after vacation.
-loves his mama.
-loves his daddy and his brother, but really loves his mama
-loves music, far more than Connor ever did. When a song comes on in church he starts bobbing up and down, pretty cute
-still our lovable and extra cuddly baby boy that we love to pieces! Can't believe he's nearly one!

project 52 | week 4: wash

Week four of Project 52: wash.

Tough subject! That will be my excuse for being so late :) Nothing overly creative here, but glad to be semi-caught up with this project! And since we have yet to receive our week five project (wink, wink, Marta, no, I'm kidding) maybe I could even consider myself ahead :)

Challenge: Wash
Subject: My boys in the tub
Skill:Ah...I was just ready to be done with this week's word, not sure I focused on any certain skill. Did have to have the shutter speed a lot higher, which I haven't really had to do photographing cupcakes and newborn babies that don't move a whole lot!

storage!

Bryan and one of his employees have been busy in the garage (don't worry, nights and weekends) building some official storage units. Bryan is very particular about having his spaces be clean and tidy (funny how that doesn't carry over to his clothes thrown on the floor, dishes, etc. :)) and didn't like putting anything in the garage because there were no shelves, etc. Fortunately we have super high ceilings in the garage so they built these awesome cubby type things. Bryan has gone a little crazy putting I swear everything in our house up there, but, at least it's all nice and contained :) I bribed Louis (the guy helping Bryan) into making me some awesome crates, too!

My beloved crates. I won't lie, I am more excited about these than the storage units :)

introducing...

Well, I did it! I made a big step toward becoming a photographer and put myself out there today. I pushed my photography facebook and blog pages live for all to see. I obviously only have a few 'real' sessions under my belt (see below the adorable babies I photographed yesterday) but am excited for what the future holds. Would love your support and feedback, click the links below to check it out!

Christy Bode Photography on Facebook

(don't forget to 'like' me, wink wink)

Christy Bode Photography Blog

 

30 before 30

Well, I turned the big 2-9 today. I officially have 366  days (thank you, leap year, for one extra day!) of my 20's left. It's really not a big deal, however, it has prompted me to try and achieve a few goals before saying goodbye to my youth (kidding). This is nothing new, but I thought it would be fun to give it a try. Accomplish 30 goals before I'm 30.

me. 29.

So, without further ado, here's my list, and in no particular order.

1. Complete six random acts of kindness.
2. Get comfortable with walking into a situation and choosing the right ISO, shutter speed an aperture settings on my camera.
3. Create a mother/son tradition with Connor.
4. Create a mother/son tradition with Grayson.
5. Create a tradition with my nieces.
6. Display a photo from our wedding.
7. Have at least one item (photo, art, anything) on a wall in every room (including hallways) in our house.
8. Finish decorating Connor's room.
9. Be caught up on all scrapbooks.
10. Receive income for my photography.
11. Host my neighbors for a party.
12. Learn the basics of sewing.
13. Lose 30 pounds.
14. If goal #13 is met, lose another 10.
15. Decorate the boys' bathroom so they'll enjoy using it. (ie get their crap out of my bathroom :))
16. Pack my lunch 4 days a week on average.
17. Paint my bathroom.
18. Plan a date night once a month.
19. Run my second half marathon.
20. Sew curtains for Connor's room.
21. Spend more time on investments and financials.
22. Plan meals.
23. Take a fitness class.
24. Take photoshop classes.
25. Use coupons at the grocery store.
26. Write at least one handwritten note per month.
27. Go on a weekend trip with my movie night girls (ha, hope they're all up on board for this :))
28. Do girls weekend with my Mom and Sister in Law, make it a tradition.
29. Update my resume (not thinking of changing careers anytime soon, but it hasn't been touched since 2005)
30. Read six professional/career related books.

Now, not all of these are S.M.A.R.T. goals, but, I'm okay with that. I'll know if I achieved them or not. Some of these are also VERY random and are pretty questionable to be on a list like this, but to be honest, I was struggling coming up with 30! I'll prob check in half way through the year or maybe quarterly to see how I'm doing!

Grayson is ON.THE.MOVE!

As of Sunday or so, Grayson is officially crawling! That would have made him nearly exactly 10.5 months old. He's still pretty slow calculated in his movements and destinations, but definitely officially crawling :) We're so proud of our little man!

Sorry this clip isn't uber entertaining, but he does show off a few other tricks. Claps, waves on demand and lately he's been twisting his tongue so far around it seems unnatural...I'm just hoping this oddly means he's getting more teeth or something. Still at two!

project 52 | week 3: circle

Week two of Project 52: circle.

I'd say this was a little easier of a word this week although I still didn't capture what I had thought I was going to. I play volleyball twice a week and was thinking of doing a cool shot of a volleyball, but, never brought my camera to either of my games so there went that idea. Then today was treat day at work to celebrate a few birthdays there this week and conveniently my co-worker, Michelle, brought in some amazingly tasty and adorable treats and guess what? They were cut out to be little circles :)

 
Challenge: Circle
Subject: Mini Brownie Bites
Skill: I wasn't really going after a particular skill. One of these times I really want to focus on the composition of the photo, I like where this shot was going, but I sometimes forget to really look at the overall composition of the photo. Maybe next week :)