you know it's fall when...

...most of the leaves of the trees are gone (I'm sad that most of the leaves are gone from this one! It was the most beautiful orange...the big storm we had a few days ago blew them off).

...you see little children playing in the leaves.

{Lilly was trying to hide in the leaves...she is so goofy}

...when it's almost November! AHHH!!! This year has flown by faster than any other...maybe it's because I'm getting old :P

-Carlotta

200

It's my 200th post today! Woohoo! :) This weekend is going to be pretty busy...tonight we're going to a birthday party at our friends the Hintzes house for their sweet son/brother Samuel, who died one day before his due date last year. He was born a year ago today. It'll be bittersweet... Then tomorrow we'll have a Reformation service at our church with a potluck dinner afterwards, and our friends the Franciscos (probably just the kids) will be spending the night at our house. Sorry I need to run so quickly - I have a science test I need to study for and homework... :) Carlotta

rain

She awoke with a start, the rustling of the wind outside her window, the steady drum of rain on the roof, the rumble of distant thunder. She leaned back and smiled, for she loved the rain. She was content to just listen to the steady rhythm of the raindrops.

Although she could not see them, she knew that the black clouds were moving closer. Her bedroom was bathed in bright flashes of light, and the roll of thunder soon grew louder.

She nestled deep into her covers, lulled by the sound of the rain. Her eyelids began to droop, until she was fast asleep.

We have had thunderstorms move through last night and today, and although this did not happen to me last night, this is what has happened many a thunderstormed (not sure if that's a word...:)) night. I love the rain. A lot. So I was happy when it thunderstormed all day here! That little paragraph described exactly the way I feel about rain. :)

halloween/reformation

We don't really "do"/"celebrate" Halloween in our family...I think the last time I went Trick or Treating was when I was around 5 or 6. We don't really believe in celebrating scary things...things that come from pagan roots...I realize that now Halloween is just about eating sweets and dressing up in [sometimes scary] costumes. Still.
We participated in the Fall Fest at our church - that was our chance to dress up, and also all our "Halloween festivites", so to speak. We (well mostly the 3 younger ones - I had to "man" a booth) got candy and so on.
Instead we celebrate Reformation day. On Reformation (Saturday) we're going to have a Reformation service at church, and then our friends the Franciscos might spend the night with us. It'll be a time of laughter and fun, too, it'll just be something different than what most people have in mind for October 31st.
Something completely off the subject - I can't believe that it's already almost November! 2009 has flown by faster than any other year...Probably because we've been so busy :)
Alright, I planned to write more, but I have to go!
Carlotta

lillyisms part two

I'm doing a part two of "Lillyisms"...you can see part one here.

Jeremiah was brushing Lilly's teeth. When she didn't cooperate, he said, "Ok, Lilly, I'm getting Dad because you're not letting me brush your teeth." Her reply? "No J.J.! I will do it!" (Yeah right. Like THAT'S ever going to happen...) Then when Jeremiah went downstairs to tell my dad, she tackled him and said, "NO! I said don't do it, smokah!" Um, ok? Smoker? Since when does my brother smoke?

....

Today was Parent/Family Watch Day at MeMe's ballet class (She does tap and ballet). Lilly, who sat on my mom's lap, saw all the girls dancing first in their ballet shoes, then tap shoes.

She turned around a whispered to my mom, "Mama, for my birfday I want ballet and tappy shoes - wittle ones." The way she said it though, like everything, was so comical!

....

When Jeremiah was brushing her teeth (this was actually the same time when she called him a smoker - why do some of the best stories take place while brushing teeth!? :P), I came into the bathroom to get something. When I came in, Lilly ran to the bathroom door, slammed it and locked it from the inside. She triumphantly annouced, "HA! I wocked (locked) you in the bafroom!" Mmhmm sure. :)

....

On the way home from MeMe's ballet class one day, MeMe was drinking from a water bottle, and spilled some on her ballet outfit when my mom made a sudden stop. Lilly saw the water and said, "Oh no, MeMe! You have to wash it off!" MeMe's like, "Um, Lilly? It's just water. Washing it off would get more water on it." Lilly got a little more extreme and said, "No! You need to get a NEW ballet 'suit'!" MeMe again said, "No Lilly. My ballet 'suit' will dry." Lilly: "That's why you can't have mine. Because yours is wet and mine isn't." (Don't quite get the logic behind that.... :)) MeMe: "No Lilly. It'll dry."

I guess Lilly got a litte tired of that angle of the topic. So she switched gears with, "MeMe, you said ballet 'suit'." MeMe, "It IS a ballet suit!" Lilly, "You said ballet suit!" MeMe, "Lilly, it IS a ballet suit." Lilly, "No, you said ballet suit!" MeMe, "Yeah, I did because that's what it is!" Lilly, being the ever persistent one,"MEME! You said BALLET SUIT!"

So went the conversation for about 5 minutes.....

....

That's our Lilly! She's such a rascal...She's the only one who can make me laugh when I don't even want to smile. :)

a busy weekend

Lilly was an indian for Fall Fest

MeMe was a cowboy...er...cowgirl Isn't she so adorable?! Our friends' little girl Kellyn was Cruella de Vil. Lilly got all excited when she finally succeeded in "making Oklahoma"

One of the Hintz's baby bunnies...they are so adorable!

We are all back...after a whirlwind weekend! My parents got back safely from their mini vacation...they went to a "dude ranch" at the Reserve at Eagle Creek. They had a cabin, with all meals provided, a hot tub in their cabin, and they went horse back riding for over 4 hours one day! They had a great time.

Lilly survived her first sleepover - it went pretty well! She went to bed with MeMe and Anna and JoJo Hintz, and then came into my bed at about 3am both nights. She wasn't too fussy at night either, which was a blessing! :)

Yesterday we had our Fall Fest...it was a great success! A lot of people from the neighborhood around the church came, which was great. Then right after that I had to babysit until about 11:30pm. So it was a busy weekend!

On a side note, I also got a Facebook this weekend! So if any of you are on as well, add me. :)

Sorry this is a rather short post - I need to get back to studying and doing homework. :)

Carlotta

i'm back!

I'm back! My parents got back safely and had a great time. Right now I'm doing latin homework, we have a Fall Fest at church later, and I have to babysit, so I'll post something more lengthy tomorrow. I have to catch up on a whole bunch of stuff! Carlotta

the post in which i rant, scream, and get mad

Don't let the title of this post scare you off. I won't get too mad, I promise. :) In school, we're studying about the 1920s and 30s. I find this period really interesting...people might think that the Roaring 20s were only about having a good time, but there are actually sinister things going on underneath the cover of fun. Anyway, on to my real topic. For my literature in school this week, I'm reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor. It takes place in the 1933, and it's told by a nine year old black girl, Cassie. I thought that the bad treatment of African Americans took place mainly in the 1950s and 60s, but it actually started way back right after the Civil War. Even in 1933 it was pretty bad. White people looked down on them, forced them to do the things they didn't want to do, gave them the worst jobs for very little money...of course I knew this before, but the behavior of the white people still appalls me. I understand the feelings of anger that African Americans had against us. I don't blame them one bit! I would be just as angry. They were thought of as little more than filthy pigs. Just because of the color of their skin. In the book, Cassie went into town with her grandmother to get groceries. She gave the storekeeper her list, and he started to fill it. Then some white people came in that needed help, and he left Cassie, and attended them instead. They had to wait over an hour, until there were no more white customers, THEN the grocer would help them. Then as Cassie was walking home, she accidentally bumped into a white girl who was only about 2 years older than her. The white girl started screaming at her, and she's [the white girl] all "If you can't watch where you're going, you have to walk in the street. We don't want your filthy little self dirtying us..." and was ranting at her, etc. Cassie apologized with "I'm sorry". Then the white girl's dad came up and Cassie practically get on her knees and apologize, making Cassie call the white girl Miss. And that of course is very minor compared to what white people did to African Americans. One of the characters in the book got kerosene poured on him, and then the whites threw a match at him, some died, other's nose and mouth were burned off. Then of course there was the Klu Klux Klan, with their lynchings and cross burnings and the terrorizers of African Americans. I can't even fathom how people can have such hatred against others whose only difference is the color of their skin. Why? Why do things to people who have done nothing to you? Why hurt others for no good reason? Why make life super hard for them? It makes me mad. Racism is horrible. It is truly evil. I can understand why Africans Americans sometimes lost their temper against the white people. Of course racism only exists in America now in very small quantities, and no one of a different skin color is terrorized anymore. Anyway, I just wanted to throw out some food for thought (and rant a little)...tomorrow through Saturday night I'll be gone - my dad is taking my mom on a trip for their anniversary (which is today) then, and we'll be staying with our friends the Hintzes. My mom know that she's going on a trip, but doesn't know where. :) So goodbye for a little while! Carlotta PS I just realized that it's been a month since I decided to do one post a day for the next month. I know I didn't post every day, but I think I did a pretty good job. :) I think I'll keep on doing it...

i've been busy...

...taking pictures of myself

{and no, I don't wear glasses...these are just what I call "geeky glasses" that I like to play with. :P}

...dreaming about a hot pink bathroom

...doing school + homework

...making and eating a lot of apple and cream cheese wraps

....doing science experiments (and taking pictures of your friend you are doing the experiment with)

...taking pictures of Lilly in the rain

...taking pictures of your friend Casper Jones Jr. the First (aka Reagan)

...wrapping elaborate presents for birthday parties

...creating abstract art

...being weird with Reagan at sleepovers, and changing into Alfreda Einstein (more about that later...I can't believe I'm actually posting this photo...)

...rec operating from open houses with over 100 people attending (can you believe I forgot to take pictures!? UG! It was great, though. The weather was perfect, everyone loved the house, there was even food leftover! :P)

Actually, I've been taking A LOT of pictures. As you could probably see. As of right now?

...cooking dinner. So off I go before the sauce boils over! :P

Carlotta

jack johnson

I love love love Jack Johnson!! His music is really hard to describe...I would say it's kind of acoustic pop with lots of jazz and Caribbean influences. He also has a little bit of the surfer vibe in his music, since he IS from Hawaii and a surfer! :) One of my favorites by him right now is Tomorrow Morning...a few other favorites are Broken and Supposed to Be (sorry, can't find a link for this one!). I actually first found out about him when watching the Curious George movie earlier this year - he did the soundtrack for the movie. For awhile after that all my siblings were obsessed with Upside Down...it is a cute song though. Sorry this is such a short post...I need to get to bed early because we're going to the 8am church service tomorrow instead of the 10:30 so we can get more done before the open house. I MAY not post tomorrow, with all the craziness that'll be going on... :) Carlotta

a busy life

I'm sorry I didn't post yesterday! I spent the night with my friend Reagan last night, which is why I didn't post. *giggle giggle snort snort* Sorry, I was just thinking about our crazy videos we took...I might post some later. :)

I'm almost done decorating my room. I'm just putting up finishing touches - hanging up pictures, putting pillows on the bed, etc. The only thing that I would love to have done for the open house but don't is my sofa situation. I'll live...but what I have right now (a futon with no frame, just propped up against the wall) looks a little...odd. Maybe I can just throw a colorful fluffy blanket on top of it...the art work above was my "abstract" art that I told you about earlier...I really like how it turned out. Sorry about the quality of the photos...I was in a bit of a rush.

This is one of 20 scavenger hunt pictures. For our open house, to make it more fun for the kids, we decided to take closeups of things around the house, print them out, and give a sheet to each kid. I took pictures of detailed moldings, fireplaces (both basement and main floor), art work, even the kitchen cabinet knobs! Hopefully it'll keep them entertained. :) We've been cleaning and cleaning and cleaning some more. We have cupcakes, mini eclairs, cookies, various baked goods, hot chocolate and lemonade stand, a "speakeasy" in the basement...yeah. I'm sure there's more that I'm forgetting. We're not really sure how many people are coming, but we're figuring between 50-100...it is spread over a period of 3 hours though, from 2-5 pm, so hopefully everyone won't come at the same time.

Alright, I'm off to rinse my mom's hair of henna! :) Carlotta

open house

All dressed up for the Oktober Fest

Lilly and JoJo :) Anna Hintz in "costume"! :)

We're getting ready for our open house, which is on from 2-5pm Sunday. We're inviting everyone from church and some of our neighbors...art is being hung, rooms are being cleaned, the last few boxes are being unpacked. We decided that we're not going to give tours, but we'll let everyone look around on their own. Then on the bedrooms we'll put up signs kind of like in a museum, so people know whose room is whose. Then we'll have a little lemonade and hot chocolate stand outside, as well as various cookies and cakes, etc. It's going to a German "Kaffee und Kuchen" which literally mean "coffee and cake" in German. Hopefully we can get everything done in time! Yesterday we went to Hobby Lobby, and got some blank canvases. One really big one we turned into an abstract painting, with a cross...and then I got two other smaller ones that I painted, based off of this. I like how it turned out - I'll take pictures of both and post them.

The pictures above are from the Oktober Fest at church on October 2nd. I can't believe it's already been 1 1/2 weeks since then!

Carlotta

pet peeves

I have a whole list of pet peeves...I thought I'd post some for fun. These aren't really in any order, they all bug me the same... :)

1. When people use apostrophes wrong. For example when the person guilty wants to say "My cats are so cute!" and instead say "My cat's are so cute!" Ug! That bugs me to no end. :)

2. When people try to make the names of businesses, etc "cuter", and so mangle the word(s) completely. "Karla's Kountry Kitchen" or "Kum and Go", etc. Sheesh people! This probably has to be one of my all time worst pet peeve.

3. When products try to abbreviate something, and just leave out one or two letters. "All U Can Eat"...There was some product I was looking at a few days ago that had the perfect example, but I can't remember what it was...

4. When people shopping or "out and about" look like they've just rolled out of bed, and are still in their pjs too. I mean, it's not that hard to put on some clothes and brush your hair, people!

5. When guys wear "shorts" but put them really low so they're almost long pants. What purpose does it serve?!

6. When people don't flush in public restroom. EWW!! Nobody wants to clean up after you, folks.

7. By the same token, when people leave the toilet lid up. I don't know why, but that really bugs me.

8. When people write in or tamper with a library book. It's no fun for the next person! That's happened to me...and right at the best part, too!

9. When it takes FOREVER for someone to do something because they didn't listen to the instructions properly. Like in my science class yesterday, my teacher said (and she even told us to listen closely!) "You need to go to the class homepage, and download these three files." She told us the names of the files, and it was super easy. But some weren't paying attention, and we lost a third of class time!

10. People (mostly guys) that jingle the coins in their pocket. Or crack their knuckles ceaselessly. Both are super annoying...

I'm sure I'll find more pet peeves...I might do a part two. :)

Carlotta

a lazy sunday

Sorry I didn't post yesterday. But it was a busy (if not a little bit lazy :P) Sunday. We have had icky weather for the past few weeks - in the 40s and cloudy. Brr. I love that we have a fireplace in our house and it works! The first in 4 years - yeah! So I cuddled up by the fire yesterday and read a book. :) I know...I could have been blogging, but I needed a little break. Sorry! :) I still haven't finished painting those picture frames - I'm only half way done with one. Oops. I HAVE been busy, though... My dad left this morning for a pastor's retreat in Enid, OK - he'll be back on Wednesday afternoon. Since he won't be here on Wednesday morning, Latin, which is then, is CANCELLED!!!!!! (can you tell my excitement?? :P) I'm happy about that. Now that all my fellow students are finished downloading our assignments, I need to run. :) Carlotta

updates

Last night we went to the wedding of a couple at our church. The wedding was beautiful, as was the bride. She had the most amazing dress on....We attended the reception afterwards. Although I've been to many weddings, this was only my second reception. We had a blast! Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE was dancing. Except me. For a while. If you know me, I'm not usually the type to dance and make a fool out of myself in front of tons of people. I might do it if any of my friends were there (which they weren't), but to go up by myself? Never. Except for last night. After EVERYONE was on the dance floor (except 1 or 2 older people) except me, even my family, I decided just to jump in with both feet and do the best I can. I had so much fun! I danced to Beat It, and a bunch of other songs I can't remember the names of. I can't dance by myself, though. I don't know why, but I feel really dumb. So I held Lilly and danced. It was so weird - I tried dancing by myself, and I felt like a complete and total idiot. But as soon as I picked up Lilly, all of that melted away! Megan, Pastor's daughter, caught the bridal bouquet. It was so cute to see a four year old catch it! :) The sleeper sofa thing didn't go through. My mom talked with the lady that was selling it, and she said that is was a blue flowery (eww!) older sofa, and if we wanted it, we would have to pick it up at 7:30 this morning. My mom and I decided not to get it, especially since we had been up later at the wedding! The sofa didn't interest me THAT much...so back to Craig's List I go! :) I started painting my picture frames yesterday...I went to Lowe's and picked up a sample sized can of pink paint, which is more than enough. More later! Carlotta

craftiness

I've all of a sudden been itching to do some "room improvement" type crafts. I think I've just grown reeaally tired of living in a half finished room! :) And, with our open house on the 18th looming ahead of me, I've been in kind of a rush to get things finished. Anyway, I wanted to share a couple things with you. I went shopping yesterday...in the basement! :) We had a bunch of old artwork that was just sitting in boxes. I need art, these things needed a home, and presto! :) Here's what I found.

The lady on the far left is my great grandmother on my dad's side (my grandma's mother), the lady on the right is Claire Trevor, and I think the man is Robert Ryan. She (my great grandmother) was a Hollywood journalist...we have TONS of photos of her with John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, etc. I'm not quite sure who the other people in this picture are, though. There used to be many many more of these pictures, her with Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, etc, but unfortunately they got thrown out when she died. The pictures we DO have my dad salvaged from the junk man. :)

This is an original from Telgte, Germany (were my grandparents on my mom's side live, and where she grew up). There's a relatively famous chapel and church there, and I think this is what it's supposed to be. I kind of like abstract art, and I thought this would provide a fun punch in my room. :) These are the frames that held some of the pictures of my great grandmother...the glass was broken in these four, so I took them for my room. I know they aren't the prettiest, but they have potential. I want to go to Lowe's today or tomorrow, and pick up some pink paint to paint these. Then I'm going to print out four of my favorite black and white photos that I've taken and frame them in these. They'll surround my big black and white Paris poster (still need to find a frame for that...It's kind of a weird size).

This is my lastest knitting project - I'm making a knitted pillow. I thought I would stuff it with that filling you can get in huge bags at Walmart, and then for decoration I'll take mismatched buttons of roughly the same color and make some sort of design with them.

So, those are my projects that are in the works. As you may know, I've been looking for a futon couch/sleeper sofa for my room - something that'll convert into a bed. Since my room doubles as a guest room when we have visitors, it would be nice to have an extra bed. A lady from church emailed my dad asking if we wanted a futon couch. The price? $10. Score! Granted, I haven't seen a picture or anything, but even if it's awful, for $10 you can't really go wrong. Even if it IS awful, I can always get a slipcover. I'll post pictures of it...I'm excited to see how it'll turn out. :)

On a side note...Sometimes I wonder what my blog has turned into. It used to be just a regular old thing about my life and our family...now it's kind of developed into a design/craftiness blog. I think because it's more fun to write about. And it makes it easier to post everyday....I'll still write about our family, but not quite as often. Because it gets bor-ing. Well, at least to me. Anyway, enough rambling! :) Carlotta

bathroom

After a renovating break, we're almost ready to tackle the next part - the upstairs bathroom. Right now, the bathtub functions, but leaks into the library, which is right underneath it. So we only have 1 shower that we can use right now (in the downstairs bathroom). The sink has been refinished before, and it chipped off again, so we'll be needing a new sink. The walls are blue right now, and it has hand painted pictures of swans and flowers etc...and all the paint is chipping off as well. So it looks like we'll be getting a new tub, sink, and painting the walls - at least. It's kind of hard to say right now. Anyway, since this bathroom is the girls' (MeMe, Lilly, and I are all upstairs), we're (my mom and I...not sure what my dad will say :P) thinking about doing it really girly. Here is some of my inspiration for MY idea of redoing the bathroom...

Of the two bathrooms, the first is my favorite. You might remember the living room from this post...I just love that color! I'm thinking about having the walls pink (a color similar to the pink in the first picture), but not girly girl pink. Not the ballerina + roses type pink. I'm thinking something bold and fun. It needs to be more of a warmer color, not colder like some pinks are, though. I'm very picky about my colors, if you haven't noticed. :) I didn't want to paint my room pink, honestly because I was a little scared of such a bold color (and I was also afraid I would get tired of it) but since the bathroom is pretty small, it might be my chance. Because I LOVE the color! :) Anyway, my idea is to paint the walls a pink kind of like in the first picture, and the a little higher than the middle, paint a big fat horizontal stripe in white, matching the tub and sink. Then the tub/shower part tile in white. The only slight challenging part is that there is blue tile on the floor, and we don't necessarily want to rip all that up. So if we really end up wanting pink, we'll have to find one that'll go with the blue. What do you think? I would love to hear your opinion. Anyway, I'm excited about it. :)

sickness

I hope you're recovered from my decorating rant! :) Our family had a little bout of sickness these past few weeks - Lilly had this 24 hour fever thing, gave it to MeMe, who didn't bounce back as quickly. She's been struggling with it for almost a week now (she's better today, though). She'll do this weird hiccup/cough/sneeze/snort thing all without opening her mouth. Weird, I know. She was running a temperature and everything too - she even had to stay home from church on Sunday (and it has to pretty serious for that to happen! :P). Thankfully everyone's almost back to normal. Sickness has been spreading like crazy over the past few weeks - someone in my piano teacher's neighborhood even got the swine flu! So when I came into piano today, I had to wash my hands in the bathroom, THEN use hand sanitizer. They said the swine flu enters through the face, so you need to always wash your hands (duh), and not to rub your eyes, and to refrain from touching any other part of your face. In terms of other news - I took a science test yesterday (it was part of our homework), and we graded it in class today. I would have gotten 100 except for a "stupid mistake" (we've all had those - where you know the answer and just misread the question or something and put down the wrong answer)...and the question was sooo simple! I could have kicked myself. I had a perfect grade in science and this is going to drag it down. :( Ug. Hopefully I can make it up through extra credit though... Carlotta

inspired

I loooove this entryway, featured in House Beautiful. The rest of the house makeover is just stunning as well...I love the whole house.

This living room is amazing. I love the pink, white, and brown together. I was actually seriously considering this color for my bedroom walls, but decided against it. I think with a color like this, you could get tired of it very easily. But that doesn't mean I don't like it. :) I love this room to

pieces.

When we moved into our house, I was super energized and inspired to create my perfect bedroom, complete with all the right accessories and beautifulness (I don't think that's a word...oh well. :P). And especially because we had to paint the walls anyway, it gave me a further chance to have the perfect space, as I could choose my color and theme then, and not have to live with some boring, ugly wall color that I hated.

Well...here we are a little over 2 months later (I can't believe it's been that long!), and let's just say I haven't gotten nearly as much as I wanted to get done the first week. I wanted to paint my desk. I wanted to paint my window seat. I want to put funky art on the walls. I wanted all new bedding that would match my style. I wanted the perfect displays, the perfect couch. I wanted someone to think when they walked into my room, complete with a vanilla candle and soft jazz in the backround, to think Wow. What a gorgeous room! Of course I still do, but after all the hard work renovating the just basics, we were all too tired and too drained of energy to do anything else. I got used to it, and that was the end of the story. Actually, now that I've been contemplating it these last few days, it's not. I don't want to live with a half finished/half decorated room! I've been looking at makeovers lately, simple makeover ideas, House Beautiful, Martha Stewart, This Old House, Better Homes and Gardens. And I've been inspired. As you might know, my room is a chocolate ice cream brown, with hot pink (and do I mean bright!) and white accents. I love black and white pictures, and Paris, and I want a huge collage of art like that on the walls.

Anyway, some of my plans are to do in the very near future are: -print out my favorite black and white photos that I've taken, and frame them in hot pink, white, or black frames. I'm still undecided. I'm on the look out for inexpensive frames, and I want to spray paint them. -find out the perfect way to display the books on my bookshelf(as well as the cards, memorabilia, etc I have there as well) -find a good solution for a sleeper sofa/futon couch in my room. I'm on the look out for one, so far no luck. I've been checking Craig's List faithfully everyday, though, so I hope it'll pay off soon. -find a cushion for my window seat. I'm thinking I'll have it in, you guessed it, hot pink. Or maybe hot pink with white polka dots or stripes...? I have to think about it. Ah...decisions, decisions. Sometimes I wish I could hire a decorator to do all the hard work, and I would just tell them the colors scheme, the things I like, etc. But, unfortunately, that's out of the question...I hope I can complete my room soon, though! Thank you listening to my rambling. :) Carlotta

eye candy

My post for today will be for today and yesterday. I'm sorry! I've been crazy busy - not to mention all the science homework I have to do after my teacher overloaded us! So hence the combined post AND since I don't really have the time to actually write out a post, I'm going to post some eye candy for you all. Ok, the complain fest is over. :) Enjoy!

I love this wedding. And the typewriter guest book idea is amazing!! I love how it looks, and it's really simple. I'm keeping that idea for in the future sometime...maybe for our open house in a couple weeks? It would have been great at my dad's ordination as well...

These photos this photographer takes really make me want to go into the photography business. I love them!

This craft space is something I envy. I love how the yellow table and chalkboard wall go together!

fun with friends

Our friends the Hintzes spent the night last night (that's why I didn't post yesterday - sorry!!)- we had a blast! Last night was also the Oktoberfest at our church, and we went there with the Hintzes. MeMe, Lilly, and Anna Hintz all sold pretzels - they were a huge hit! MeMe trick to selling them (she didn't do it knowingly...) was going up to people and asking them if they wanted a pretzel. Of course they're like "Sure!", and take a bite, and then MeMe says "They cost two dollars." Hahahaaha!!! Of course they didn't want to cheat a little girl, so they gave her the money. It was hilarious to watch! Then my dad recruited some kids and they all did the Schnitzelbank song together, with me being the "backstage" person (lining them all up, making sure they don't come out until their turn, etc)...that was quite a task! Today I also finished my Nancy Drew game - yay! I'm kind of sad, about it though...it was one of my favorite games that I've played yet. Off to set the table! Carlotta

the new ipod nano

The new iPod nano commercial. :) This new model has a built in video camera - pretty cool if you've forgotten your camera on an outing...and from the demo videos that I've seen taken with iPod, it's pretty high quality. And the price isn't that bad - $149 for a 8gb, $179 for a 16gb. Which really is quite good - my 4gb iPod, bought last year, cost $149. Of course, I bought it refurbished, so I only paid $79. But the same price, one year later, and you get double to storage PLUS a snazzy built-in video camera! :) Not that I'm buying this iPod or anything, I just think it's pretty cool.

polaroid calenders

Oh, I cannot tell you how much I am in love with these calenders! I know that it's still October (gasp! I can't believe how far along in the year we already are!), but if the year will keep flying by as fast as 2009 has been flying by, the new year will be here in no time.

Alicia Bock, the photographer, takes such amazing Polaroids! She has pulled together two 2010 calenders. One is a collection of photos from Paris! My heart skipped a beat when I saw it - Polaroids and Paris, two of my favorite things incorporated into one! I also love her "I Love Paris in the Springtime" collection!

Sorry that I didn't post yesterday, so I'll be posting two today. And I'm so proud of myself for figuring out how to make the pictures I post larger! Yay! :)

Carlotta