Lame-o Me

I cannot believe it has been 3 months since I posted on this blog. I won't even attempt to make any excuses, because the only excuses I can give would reveal to you all the lazy, time-wasting, procrastinating side of me. And that would totally ruin the perfection facade I try to put on.

So one of my New Years Resolutions is to reread the Harry Potter series since I have never read it in order from start to finish (I started with book 4 after the third movie came out, then I got hooked and went back and read the first 3 out of order). *Side note- I hope you have all read this series. If you have not you absolutely MUST! They really are magical- they make you feel like a little kid again and like there is such a thing as magic. And Hogwarts is the coolest place in the world!* So I am reading the third book right now and I was thinking about Hermione's time changer thing and how cool it would be if that was real. If you could turn back periods of time and do them over, think of all the things you could get done! I would repeat my kids nap time several times a day. That way I could take a nap myself AND read AND edit photos AND work on my new website AND post the bathroom reno. photos that I promised months ago AND surf the net AND take another nap (because all that work would make me tired again). Don't you think that would be so cool? What would you do if you could turn back time? (Nerdy question, but seriously I would like to know!)

Some other Carroll Family updates(with a plethora of hyperlinks):

-Jace will be registering for Kindergarten next week. CRAZY!

-Ethan moved into a big boy bed and is doing great! I finally painted the boys rooms, got them these matching quilts for their bunk beds and put some cool new hardware on their dresser. It is so nice not having a crib in there anymore- it has totally opened up the room and with a few storage bins in there it is so much easier to keep their room clean! I only wish I would've done it sooner.

-Tim just read this book and is trying to convince me to go on this program with him but I am afraid of looking like this:

Don't get me wrong, I would love to get in great shape but I don't want to look like sheman. Though I know realistically 12 weeks of diet and exercise couldn't make me look like that. Any body building women reading this blog, I am sorry if I offended you. Anyways, I promised him I would at least read the book.

-I am running a 10K at the end of March. I am determined to run it in UNDER an 8.5 min/mile pace. That is very fast for me, since my natural running pace is quite sluggish. But last Friday I ran 5 miles at an 8.7 pace so I think I can do it. Also, I got these jeans from Overstock last week and LOVE them- super cute, very good fitting with the perfect amount of stretch. If you have long legs, I highly recommend them.

-Last week we booked this beach house: http://www.midgettrealty.com/book/house.html?PMSID=WF312 (you'll have to copy and paste- the link isn't working)
My family is going to fly out here this August and vacation in the outerbanks with us. HOORAY!! LOVE the Outer Banks- and cannot wait to go there with my family!

-And last, but not least, we got our first (and probably last) snow storm last week. HOORAY! We could finally build a snowman! Now you Rocky Mountainers may be laughing at our pathetic excuse for a snowman, but it is hard to build a snowman from 1.5 inches of snow! This took pretty much all the snow from our front yard and I constantly had to pick leaves and sticks out of the ball as we rolled it. And we had to build it at 7:30 in the morning since the snow out here usually melts by noon, which it did. But Frosty JR. here lasted a whopping 2 days before his eyeballs fell out and his head fell off. And the squirrels treated themselves to a delicious dried carrot a few days later.

To anyone still reading this blog, hope you are doing well! And Mel, I know I promised bathroom photos so those are coming up! Tootles, y'all!

Holy Late, Batman!

I know that Halloween was a few weeks ago, but I am finally getting around to putting up the photos of the boys. Hopefully this post will be the introduction to me getting back on the blogging bandwagon.


We spent Halloween this year at the UVA Lawn once again. For those that are not familiar with UVA, there are rows of doorm rooms that line a grassy area on the backside of the Rotunda. They were built by Mr. Thomas Jefferson himself and certain students get invited to live there(apparently it is a huge honor, as they are really old and have community bathrooms that you have to go outside to get to- not my idea of fun!) Every year the students and some faculty members hand out candy there- there are tons of people! And the doors are all really close together so you can get lots of candy in a short amount of time, an idea which Jace really caught onto this year.


We went with Sonya B. this year and her little cowboy, Sam. Earlier that day Tim had a sinus procedure up in Warrenton that we were at all day, so we had to come straight from there. I remembered to bring the boys costumes but I forgot my camera. And I must say it was actually kind of nice! I got to enjoy what was going instead of walking around with one squinty eye and the other looking through a camera lens. But thankfully Sonya took a few shots for us. And you even get to see me in a frame- a rarity! The rest of the shots were taken on Nov. 1. I dressed the boys back up in their costumes so we could go show our neighbors their costumes and take some photos. Speaking of their costumes- I probably spent 14+ hours making these things. Crazy, right? Who spend 14 hours on their kids Halloween costumes? Yes, I am crazy indeed. But it was worth it- I couldn't resist doing the dynamic duo. Have you ever seen a more adorable Batman and Robin? You better say 'YES' or I will have Batman get you with a bat-a-rang.


Other updates: Jace turned 5 this week- can you believe it? Man, he is getting old fast(as am I)! And I played hookie from church today because I have a horrible cough. Really, I don't think I have ever had such a bad cough. I have probably only gotten 3-4 hours of sleep the last two nights because I just can't stop coughing- it is miserable! My jaw and my abs/ribs are so sore, I am tired of laying on the couch and I am running out of movies to watch! And I am a little nervous because I am scheduled to have surgery on my bellybutton this week and I am worried about how they are going to work on my belly button if my stomach muscles are constantly contracting from coughing. Can you cough when you are put under? I wonder... By the way, the surgery is for a hernia I got above my belly button after my last pregnancy. I want to get it fixed before I have #3 because I was told it will get worse.


Oh, other BIG news for me- I got this lens last week and it is AWESOME! This is the mother of all sports lenses- if you watch any sports you have probably seen the guys with the black and white lenses- this is that lens. Only I got it in black because the the white one was on back order. I haven't had tons of time to play with it yet since I have been sick, but I used it on my last session and it was amazing! It is really fast to focus and the bokeh at 135-200 is beautiful! And it is super sharp! The vibration reduction is such a cool feature- Tim took a shot at night inside at 200mm with a shutter speed of 1/15 and it was still pretty sharp. Seriously, that is amazing! Typically you need to have your shutter speed 2xs your focal length(in this case 1/400), so to even attempt shooting at 1/15 is unreal! Yep, this is going to be a great addition to my arsenal. And such a great sports lens for when my boys start sports! But man it is huge- the weight doesn't bother me, but it is LONG! It is about finger to elbow length with the hood on. It looks like a bazooka! I hope it doesn't scare away the kids I photograph! I will try to get out and do some test shots with it. I want to compare it to my 85 and see the difference in color, bokeh, etc.


Anyways, I better get going. My bag of cough drops and that indentation in the couch are calling my name. I wonder what movie I will watch tonight...


I will try to post again soon! Enjoy the photos!

A Wicked Halloween

I saw this on Youtube last week and fell in love with it! I have this new obsession with makeup so I am so excited to try this out this Halloween. I don't have the supplies that she has, so I am sure it won't look as good but oh well. Make sure to watch it until the end to see the transformation (and the bonus Wicked song!)- love the glammed up witch!

Enjoy and Happy Halloween! Check back for photos of Batman and Robin!

Tagged

Has it really been a month and a half since I last posted? That is really sad- I probably don't have any blog followers anymore and I am sure I am just talking to myself right now. But I will go ahead and give my lame-0 'I have been busy' excuse.

Quick update- the bathrooms are done and they look great! I will try to get around to posting my before and after pics, right after I clean the now dirty bathrooms and take the after pictures. But considering I have a few sessions to edit, two Halloween costumes to make and a Primary Halloween party to plan it might not happen this week.

Now, on to the tagging. I have been tagged a few times and despite my good intentions, I rarely follow through with them because of my horrid procrastination habit(which is also the reason you have still not seen our beach pictures- or the Gettysburg photos from last July 4th, etc.)
Anyways, so when my good friend Mel tagged me I was determined to sit down and do it immediately knowing that otherwise it would never happen. So here goes:

Six Quirks of Mine

1- I have a really bad habit of picking at my toenails when I am either sitting at the computer or watching TV. I know it is disgusting- but I just cannot seem to leave them alone, especially when I am under stress. Hey, at least I pick at them with my fingers and not my teeth. Tim bought me a gift certificate for a pedicure at a really nice salon last Mothers day and I have still not been able to use it because I can't seem to grow my toenails long enough. And I would be so embarrassed if they called me out on my toenail picking habit, exposing me for the weirdo that I am. Oh, and if my toenails are not available I will bite my fingernails instead.

2- I have a really bad habit of leaving cupboards open- it seems like I have shared that before. Not very interesting, but it is definitely a quirk of mine. Watch you head if you ever walk through my kitchen!

3- I know I have mentioned this before, but I make this horrid oinking noise to scratch my throat. I do this several times a day, especially in the summer and fall when I have allergies. I honestly feel sorry for my husband and am sometimes surprised that he is still married to me. I wonder if he knew about the noise before we got married? How did I keep it hidden from him? Poor guy... It even annoys my kids- Jace asks me why I sound like a pig.

4- I am a complete slob and a clean/anti-clutter freak at the same time. Sounds nonsensical, but it is true. I do not pick up after myself at all- I will leave my dishes at the table or my desk, leave clothes lying on my bedroom floor, pile things up in places rather than put them away. But it is only a short matter of time before the clutter starts to drive me crazy and I go on a cleaning spree. Oh, and if I ever knowingly have company, I have to clean my house. Even if someone is just coming by to drop something off, I will clean my house. I know I shouldn't care if my friends see my house kind of messy and the rational part of me really doesn't care, but I just cannot stop myself. The urge to clean and de-clutter takes over.

5- Apparently I like to make my life as difficult as possible. Wouldn't it be easier to just pick up after myself? Doesn't it take just as long to hang up a sweater as it does to throw it on the bed or in a pile? The answer is yes, but that doesn't seem to change me. I do this with all aspects of my life, not just the messes. I was hoping that doing Yoga would cure me of my bad habits, but so far it is not helping(I am, however, more flexible and can do a mean tree pose!)

6- I am mildly Arachnophobic. I refuse to go into our crawl space or even put my head under our back deck for fear of the spiders that could be hiding above me, just waiting to attack. I once had to pull something out of our crawlspace (it was only about two feet inside) and I literally almost had a panic attack. I am always worried for Tim when he has to go in the crawl space. Sometimes when it is dark and I am walking through the house I have horrid visions of poisonous spiders crawling after me- I have to run to get away from them even though I know they are not really there.

Now for the other part of the tag, I am only going to do a few because I don't know if I could think of 8 things in some of these categories. So here goes:

8 things I am passionate about...
1. My family
2. My faith
4. Photography and art
5. Business
6. Marriage (if I wasn't a SAHM and a photographer, I would be a Marriage and Family Therapist- I love studying relationships!)
7. Okay, I can't think of anymore...

8 words or phrases I use often...
1. Jace (in a very firm voice- I am sure I say this at least 100 times a day)
2. Cool
3. Awesome
4. Seriously (I type this one a lot too!)
5. You are driving me crazy!
6. Whatever (Hmmm, I am starting to feel a lot like Alicia Silverstone in the movie clueless...whatEVER)
7. Good job!
8. Stop it or knock it off, often followed by a "RIGHT NOW!"

8 places I would love to visit...
1. England
2. Italy
3. Greece
4. Paris
5. New York
6. P.E.I.(I stole that one from you, Mel! Someday we will go there together, my bosom friend!)
7. Some small tropical island that isn't too famous or touristy, with Tim of course;)
8. Bismark, North Dakota. Who doesn't want to go to Bismark?

8 things I currently need or want...
1. A new pair of designer jeans
2. Several sweaters- a closet full, if we are talking wants. But I only need one or two;)
3. The Coastal Scents Neutral 28 eyeshadow Palette
4. A D700 or D3
5. The Nikon 70-200 2.8 VR lens
6. New couches
7. Money for all the things I want to buy
8. To stop wanting all this stuff that is not going to really make me happy!!!


And if you are reading this, consider yourself tagged!

Twilight Trailer Spoof

I know a lot of my blog followers are into the Twilight saga, so I had to share this here. Kind of cheesy and I know it is mocking the movie that I am actually very excited to go see, but I thought this was hilarious! Especially the last 10 seconds...

Enjoy!