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miscellany

I have many random thoughts and random pictures to show you today. They don't relate to each other whatsoever, hence being even more random. Must be a Monday, right?

1. Hello, followers! I see you down there, all 62 of you. I'm sorry I never return the favor and 'follow' blogs but honestly, I just noticed this function and wonder how long it's been lurking in the blogosphere. And hello, Google Reader subscribers! All 433 of you! Numbers like these make me feel slightly pressured to write amazing posts. I will try not to disappoint.


{these self portraits are all the rage on Flickr. I was inspired to snap this one in our old streaky mirror, after a nine miler. }
sweaty runner


2. I must preface this with the necessary disclaimer: I am NOT pregnant, so please do not read into this miscellany.

But I mentioned something to Nate the other night that caused quite the ruckus. I think it's only fair but I'd like your opinion on the matter.

I informed him that when I am pregnant I will likely morph into a holy terror for a multitude of reasons, but the two major losses I will experience will be: coffee and wine. My two drinks of choice will be taboo for nine whole months. NINE MONTHS! I might die. I mean, I'm too uptight to even consider a sip of wine but I'm sure I'll be a bit more conservative with my black gold and partake in one cup per week or something like that.

So because I will be in fluid-mourning, I think it's only fair that my husband....my teammate...my partner in crime also suffer. Isn't that what marriage is all about? [I kid, I kid.]

It's only fair that he abstains from his daily morning coffee so that I am not forced to smell it's goodness, right? I really don't care if he consumes alcohol in front of me but the coffee is where I'll draw the line. We should experience horrendous caffeine withdrawls together. I'm sure it will make our marriage stronger if we live to tell about it.

He was not happy about this at first. Then he asked, "But I can drink coffee if you don't know about it, right?" Oh great. Just what I wanted....a husband that sneaks around behind my back and cheats on me with a cup-o-joe. Of course I informed him that if he meant purchasing daily cups of expensive coffee, then no.....that would not be allowed.

We'll discuss further when the time comes. Your thoughts?

{here's me again, schweaty, blotchy and without a trace of makeup. And yet, I sort of like the light in this one}
after a 9 mile run, hence the sweat


3. Nate's dad discovered not one, but two nails in my back tire. Said tire is now at the shop getting patched up and my spare tire makes me nervous. It's like a little twig and I swear it's slanted. I can just imagine my whole car collapsing onto the driveway right now.

{my jewelry box and fun with depth-of-field}
jewelry box


4. We tried a new church on Sunday and weren't too impressed. It's hard to find a church with some younger couples, a great pastor whose message connects to us personally, and is located in our general vicinity. We'll keep hunting...

{cool artwork at a nearby school}
art swirls outside a school


5. It finally happened to me: I forgot to turn on my alarm clock before I went to bed on Thursday night. I set it for 6:15 and drag myself to the shower by 6:30, out the door by 7:20. Well on Friday morning, I was dozing soundly when I noticed Nate's head rotate towards his alarm clock then jerk over towards me. Immediately I knew I overslept [he didn't have class that morning, so his backup alarm wasn't set either].

Sure enough, I looked at the clock and it was 7:35.....15 minutes after I should have walked out the door. I sprinted to the bathroom and gave myself a hard look in the mirror, seriously considering forgoing the shower and just throwing on some clothes and a ponytail. But you see, my hair looked liked it housed actual birds that morning. Birds and possibly some rats. I owed it to myself and my patients to take that 2 minute shower.

And by golly, I was out the door in a total of 10 minutes and only 15 minutes late to work. Nate assumed the position of 'Crisis Manager' and ran to the coffee maker to get me my morning brew while toasting my bagel and handing both to me as I dashed out the door. He's a keeper.

What was not enjoyable was the fact that literally all day long I was frazzled because of my horrid start to the day. I just couldn't calm down, was high strung, and generally stressed until about 6pm that night.

Has this happened to anyone else out there? It was awful, I do not recommend.

{More cool artwork}
colorful art outside a school

6. Henry's second opinion appointment went very well and we are officially in love with the new vet. He spent ample time explaining everything and basically, he feels comfortable watching both the heart murmur and the teeth because neither is bad enough to warrant hundreds of dollars in tests right now.

He graded the heart murmur with a lower score than the previous vet and said many dogs live their whole life with a murmur and suffer no side effects. We will simply watch for any signs of distress and track it as we go--no worries there.

His teeth are in Stage One of the gum disease spectrum which basically means they are completely normal for a 3 year old dog. He does not recommend a teeth cleaning because they aren't problematic and once you begin surgical cleanings you will most likely need them very often. We are simply not ready to begin this process with him at a young age and instead, we bought some Greenies to manage his tartar at home. Henry is one happy dog, you guys.

Thanks for all the kind thoughts and recommendations. We feel like this new vet is 100% what we needed---and his advice makes sense to us, without scaring the bajeezus out of us in the process. Looks like Henry will not cost us an additional 1k....at least not right now:)

{pretty texture on a tree}
nature's texture


7. The weather is divine today and is supposed to reach 58 degrees before the day is finished. It's sunny but with a crisp breeze to remind us that Spring has not officially sprung....but we're getting there. We even have a window cracked open and there is nothing more therapeutic than fresh air sweeping through a house. In fact, it inspired us to DEEP clean our place yesterday. Again, nothing makes me happier than an insanely clean home and if you mix in a dash of sunshine I'm a regular doll to be around for a change. Keep it up, Mother Nature. I love you right now.

{rusty fence plays nicely with narrow depth of field}
DOF attempt

8. My 1.8 is scheduled to arrive on Wednesday but I'm secretly hoping it shows up today since I'm off and it's beautiful outside. A girl can dream, right?

{wispy branches are pretty, even if there is absolutely no signs of spring buds just yet}
wispy


9. I love running outside. It's about a bajillion times better than treadmill running, even if you are taking the personal TVs into account. Fresh air beats ANTM anyday. In fact, I'm tempted to run for the third day in a row outside even though my knees will protest. We shall see...

{now that's what I'm talking about, Spring is coming!}
sign of spring?


10. I need to thicken my skin a bit more and wear my 'crazy photographer' mask with pride. I still feel so creepy taking pictures of any and everything in public. I know people are staring at me, like "What the heck is she doing taking pictures of that sign/tree/house?" I think I need to get over it, don't you?

{welcome to MKE!}
welcome.


11. I'm going to Chicago in two weeks for a fabulous bachelorette party. I'm already excited for the numerous photographic opportunities that await me. I wonder if it would be disasterous to take my camera with me to the bars? Hmmmm....must weigh the pros and cons for that one. Daytime shooting is must with all of the awesome skyscrapers and whatnot. Bar scenes are a little more risky, I suppose...

{I've started to collect photos of the technicolor houses in Milwaukee. This pink one is at the top of my list for sure.}
pink house


12. I'm almost done with Twilight and it's still ''pretty good'' if you ask me. I think reading it this late in the game almost made the hype more than any book could handle but we'll see how I feel at the end of it. I will admit that I have a strong urge to stare at pictures of Rob Pattinson all day long, just so I can get the visual and drool a little.

{a cool orange house near us. Many more in my Flickr account if interested}
red/orange

13. I have a little down time in between albums for J.Lorene and had the most fabulous idea the other day. I'm going to attempt my 2009 album in real time....meaning, I'll try to keep up with my hundreds of pictures as the year goes along so I'm not so overwhelmed at the end of the year when I go to make our yearly album. In fact, I've decided to make this year's album correlate with the blog quite a bit because I've always wanted to make a 'blog book' with posts I write. So why not make our yearly album full of pictures and text from our life? I'm very excited about this now but we'll see if I can keep up all year long.


You can go here to see the full size version on Flickr, but here is an example of a page full of both pictures and my post about Henry's R-Squared:

a page from 2009


Whew, miscellanies wear me out. Now I'm off to enjoy this awesome day while pretending I don't have to work on Saturday to make up for this time off. I'm good at pretending sometimes.

19 comments:

  1. I was just telling the husband last night that I'd love to do a photo book for each year. What site are you using to do this on? Blurb?

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  2. Hey lady, I like your misc. posts.

    I'm going to weigh in on the pregnancy and coffee/wine thing ... I think it's a good idea, in theory, for the man to give up coffee/alcohol (or just coffee in your case), too, because really, why should you be the only one being deprived?

    However, I think you'll cave when the time comes. Why make him suffer just for the principal of the matter? Seems kind of mean almost.

    You're the one who gets the privilege of carrying the baby, too. :) And besides, you can have a cup of coffee each day while pregnant, or at least half a cup. At the very least, you'll need to ween yourself at first or your headaches will be insane!

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  3. I brought up the giving up alcohol thing to Jon also. I think it is only fair. We don't drink coffee.

    And yes, I know what you mean about taking pics in public. I've begun to get over it. I felt a little weird at the outlet mall this weekend. I took a couple shots of the lines in the parking lot - like laying on the pavement taking pics. People stared, but I lived. Just go for it!

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  4. nice bokeh in your rusty fence shot. :)

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  5. Hi Julia! I'm Angie and I found your blog thru STLwed. I a mprob one of the subscribers and followers you just mentioned. I really enjoy reading your blog and just wanted to introduce myself. I love Henry too! What a cutiebutt.

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  6. Tonya (the photographer/blogger) is making a blog book of her daughter's. What a wonderful idea! I love how the picture you posed was of "R-squared." Thanks for reminding me!

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  7. Your photos look outstanding! I can totally tell that you're improving!

    As far as making the hubs suffer without coffee with you... I would say he may need it, to put up with your holy terror pregnant nature... :)

    And I'm with ya! If my morning starts out haggered, I am haggered all day. No recovering from that!

    Lastly, I am so happy that you guys found a vet you love. I know how much that matters, and what a relief you must feel!

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  8. Just wanted to pipe up and say how much I enjoy your pictures. You've got a great eye!

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  9. I'll weigh in on the pregnancy thing, having it on my mind all the time!

    Not saying this will happen to you, but I felt so sick for almost two months that I didn't give a rip what Jake did or did not do. So, that's something to consider. Of course, Jake was also my slave, mostly because I couldn't leave the couch or the chair on the weekends.
    So, if you are sick like me, Nate will probably just feel badly for you and will stop drinking coffee in sympathy. It will help if you say it makes you want to throw up, even if not true.
    And if you are just fine and dandy, you should still have a bit of coffee.

    And you might seriously reconsider drinking wine too. I know that I have the past couple of weeks.

    Will you facebook me and tell me where you went to the Vet. Maybe I will check them out. :)

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  10. I'm so glad to hear about Henry's second opinion! Without looking at him, my guess was right! Yay! I do feel like I'm good at what I do.
    I enjoy your randomness as I feel random today also. I wish our weather was nice but it's been raining for days! Maybe tomorrow we will see the sun?!?

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  11. Um, really random, but is your ring on your right hand in those pictures?

    I don't think I could make Matt give up alcohol when I'm pregnant. He'll need it just to deal with me, probably.

    I hate mornings when I'm running late. It completely ruins my whole day. I don't have them very often, but when I do, it freaks me out. Sorry you had to have one.

    Glad to hear Henry is going to be okay!

    Finally, your pictures are amazing. Keep them coming!

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  12. Lynsey~yep, Blurb it is. I'm just so used to designing for their books I never really thought of anything else. I loved how our 2008 book turned out, too, and for their prices you cannot beat the quality.

    Erin~thanks for the advice. Nate tried to use the whole 'you get to carry the kid' point, too, but I didn't buy it. He is quite excited that you are siding with him as he specifically asked what the MKE girls said [not that the STL/others don't matter but apparently the MKE comments hit home most to him?]

    Kelly~maybe we just need to have a camera day together next time you are in town and look like fools together.

    mxq~Thanks, love! I'm trying:)

    Angie~hello!!

    LC~I saw Tonya's book, very nice! I think mine will have a lot more text, though, since her pics are absolutely insane and deserve the spotlight.

    N~Glad you can tell I'm improving, that means a lot to me:) And Henry sends his love.

    Sarah~thank you! I definitely put in the time behind the lens so I hope that shows somehow.

    Ang~see FB

    Lacey~you rock, thanks for the sound advice! I new there would be a sane vet out there for us.

    Sierra~no, silly, those pictures are a reflection from the streaked mirror. I haven't lost my mind completely with a hand change:)

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  13. I. WANT. YOUR. CAMERA. Seriously, that thing is like magic in a box. If we weren't going into a massive pit of debt for our wedding, I would be shopping for one of these. I guess I can hold out until our one-year anniversary? I hope so.

    I love the idea of doing a "yearbook" of each year with your hubby. I am strongly considering this, even though Marsh and I have been together for 6 years! I figured maybe I can start it once we get married. Thank you for the idea!

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  14. Great photos; looove the berry brach shot.
    So glad Henry's visit went well, and that you're happy with the new vet.

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  15. You're hot, I think we have the same jewelry box and I like you.

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  16. Gah! Where do I begin?
    I have to agree with Angie. Even though I never had terrible morning/all day sickness, I spent so much time the first two months just feeling "yucky" that I definitely did not care what anyone else was eating or drinking. Although even if I felt totally fine, I would feel really mean about telling someone that they couldn't have a certain thing just because I couldn't. Carrying that baby is definitely a much better perk than wine or coffee--although I have had a little bit of both since becoming pregnant.

    And I'm so glad things worked out with the other vet! Where did you end up going?

    I've also been trying to find a church for a while. I'm especially in crunch time because I will hopefully have a baptism to plan in the near future.

    And definitely wear that photog mask with pride! How else are you going to learn and take millions of great pictures for which you will one day be famous!?

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  17. molly~it's never too late to start! Although I technically have scrapbooks for every year of my life since high school, some of them are lumped together with multiple years....and obviously some are years without Nate. But the past 7 years are my favorite to look back on since that's when we started dating...you can make it work from here on out, too.

    prep and leah~thanks loves:)

    Katherine~we took your advice in the last post and LOVE Dr. Z. Thank you so much! I meant to email you afterwards but forgot. Let me know if you find a church so I can copy that, too:)

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  18. You absolutely crack me up!! Chris and I have had the same talk (not that I'm pregnant either), but I firmly believe he should have to give up drinking, sushi, caffeine, caesar dressing, hot dogs, white cheese and feeling good about himself when I'm pregnant. I think it's only fair!!

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  19. When I was little, I went to the school you took pictures of. I was in 8th grade when they remodeled the playground. It's cool that you took those photos. I hope you're enjoying Milwaukee.

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