Cravings and other thoughts.

For about three days now, I've had a very strong craving for a Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Biscuit from McD's. Unfortunately, the craving would hit me every night at about 9:30. McDonald's does not sell breakfast at that time. But by the morning, I would usually forget. However, this morning I woke up, and the first thing I thought of was that Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Biscuit that I wanted so desperately. So I threw on some clothes and ran out the door on a mission to McD's. Let me tell you, OMG, that Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Biscuit was like the best thing that I've ever eaten...but then again so were the triple berry muffins the other day, and the triple chocolate ice cream, and the Luscious Lemon Fruit Dip that I made for the young adults meeting last night. Ahhh!! I feel like my taste buds are totally taking me over!

I still don't know what to think of this whole pregnancy thing yet. It's so weird to me. I'm usually so strong when it comes to food temptations. It's never been too hard to resist. But lately, that has not been the case. I've set a goal for myself to only gain the recommended 30 pounds with pregnancy. I really would like to not have to work off too much weight post-pregnancy - plus I've also read that if you gain weight slowly, then you are more likely to have less stretch marks, which I've also made a personal goal of mine. You know what else? this whole weight gain thing has totally been messing with my mind! I've always been the one in charge of how much weight I gain or lose. But this is no longer the case. And now that I'm gaining weight and I don't always quite look pregnant, it makes me feel chunky. And self-conscious. I can't exactly step up the cardio-exercise to shed the pounds. It's like the whole thought of being pregnant hasn't completely sunk in yet. There's an element of sacrifice that I haven't been able to wrap my mind around yet - sacrificing my need to stay thin, sacrificing my need to abstain from food, and sometimes just my time. I've been taking a lot of naps, because I've been so worn out. It's no longer about me, but what is good for the baby. Honestly, in a way, that is really hard for me to accept. But I will. I really do want this baby. I'm still adjusting.

One last thing - you know sometimes I mean, I know I'm pregnant and all, but sometimes I could totally convince myself that this pregnancy is all in my head....like it's totally not real. But then I look at that sonogram picture and remind myself that there really is a baby growing inside of me. It's weird.

I need to go do something productive now - like edit wedding photos from the two weddings I did recently

I have a confession...

I have a secret that I've been keeping from you guys for a while. This secret has been fogging my brain and hindering my thought process. It has been impairing my memory. It's been down-right distracting to my everyday life and prevents me from functioning on a normal level (well...normal for me anyway). At times it has physically worn me out and yet other times it has resulted in sleeplessness. It has even made it difficult to keep food in my stomach. The truth is, I'm pregnant. 2 months. The baby is due April 10th.

This is why I have been so absent from blogging lately. I haven't had much to write about that isn't pregnancy related.

The picture above is our lovely little baby blob. The sonogram was taken at 6 weeks and 3 days. Not too exciting yet, but still neat to look at. It's weird to think that that little blob is growing inside of me...and a little freaky. It makes my body do things I'd rather it not do. I'm still getting used to the idea of being pregnant.

I've had this photo in my archives for about two months. Editing photos is not one of my favorite things about photography. I came across an editing problem that I didn't know how to fix in this photo. I was completely stumped for quite a while, and so I set this photo aside until yesterday, when I decided to pull it up again. All of the sudden while studying the picture, the answer just kind of came to me, and I was like, "Duh!". One thing that I like about Photoshop is that there are multiple ways to fix a problem.

Anyway, this is a friend of ours with his son. Our church had a picnic at a nearby lake in June. This little boy LOVED the water, and wanted to play in it, regardless of the fact that it was still pretty chilly. He's a funny little boy.

Tonight I have the rehearsal for the wedding I'm photographing tomorrow.

I have seriously had very little deep thoughts lately. It's kind of sad, but I do have a great explanation - that I will take time to explain some other time. But for now, I'm going to talk about something else. My birthday is coming soon. This year for my birthday I decided that I wanted one of the paintings that Joel and I purchased on our honeymoon (like 3.5 years ago) to get professional preservation framing. I'm very excited about it. I can't even explain why - because it's been in the back of my mind to get it done since we've gotten married, because I want to display it in our house, because I like the painting, because the painting holds special significance - plenty of reasons...but we are finally getting it framed professionally. It's a good birthday present. We have one more to frame too - I think I will request that one be my Christmas present. ha ha. (seems that's the only way I can get them framed)

I have wedding #2 to photograph this weekend. I'm looking forward to it. I'm spending today and tomorrow preparing for the ceremony. Then next week, I'll spend most of the week working on the pictures from wedding #2. Next weekend I'm doing wedding #3. That one will probably be less work, because it's a small wedding. I also have a friend coming in from out of town next week for a brief moment. Joel and I are going to try to squeeze breakfast in next week with them. Hopefully it will work out. I have a busy couple of days coming up. If you guys think of it, pray for me please? This next week and a half is going to wear me out. Pray that I have the strength to get everything done well with out falling apart!!

PS - yay for the Olympics. They're fun. I like them. (Just in case you were wondering)

Recently

This morning I realized that last month I only wrote three blogs. I think that's kind of sad. I'm going to make a point to do a little better than three per month. I had plenty of things to blog about, but it seemed that whenever I had something to write about, there was always something to stop me - I was either too tired, or too busy.

Here's some recent happenings:

-The pastor and his family went on their first vacation since they started the church over two years ago. Joel and I were left in charge (the board members were too). Things went pretty smoothly while they were gone.

You know how I said in my last blog that my faith in humanity's ability to function on an intelligent level has been decreasing? It's true. And I lose more faith in humanity's intelligence almost daily. Here's another reason that has contributed -

-I recently went to Walmart (I'm beginning to develop a love/hate relationship with that place). I wore a navy blue shirt. (Big mistake). I found a parking place close to the front, but it was blocked by a shopping cart that someone had not returned to the cart corral. So I parked half-way, left the car running, got out, and proceded to move the cart out of the way. While I was doing this, a lady came up to me and asked me if I was taking all the carts back. I said, "No, I'm parking." She thought I was a Walmart employee because I was moving a shopping cart AND I was wearing a navy blue shirt, just like all the employees. When she realized her mistake, she said, "Excuse me." but then left her stupid shopping cart next to me for me to take for her! What is wrong with you? Don't be stupid!! I didn't take her cart.

-A child with too much time on their hands recently found a can of spray paint and decided to display their artistic abilities on the side of our house. They spray painted our house. (Thanks a lot). My neighbor came over the next day to let me know about it. They went into her backyard and spray painted. She and I both called the police and made a report. I had to call the rental agency and they came out and inspected it, and then sent someone to paint over it. The side of our house is now as good as new. I guess this is another great example of stupid people.

- I have a wedding next week. And the following weekend, I have one more. I'm looking forward to them. :o)
Peace.