16 Things

I'd seen this idea on a few blogs as of late and thought it was cool. So today I give you 16 things about me at this moment that you may or may not know.

1.) Every day I drive past 2 houses in my neighborhood that have been completely gutted and remodeled since Ike. One is in the older part of our neighborhood about 6 blocks away, and the other is literally 2 blocks from my house - same age and size as our home. It's surreal. I can't imagine going through that, that family hasn't lived there since the storm. I'm so grateful that our damage was so minimal in comparison.
2.) I really, really, REALLY love taking people's pictures. Seems like a no-brainer, but I mean it. I wish I could turn my business full-time, but I just can't take that time away from the church and my kids and my hubby right now. It's exciting to think about someday though.
3.) Facebook is amazing. I love being so connected with people, especially people I love all across the world, it's really something!!
4.) Right now I can't get enough of the "Rock What You Got" cd from Superchick. Surprisingly, although it's totally a rock album, the lyrics moved me to tears on the way to church last night. The whole album is amazing, but this song in particular gets me...


5.) I'm baking a chocolate cake from scratch this evening. It's actually my second cake of the day, the first one got frosted in a warm kitchen and hence all the chocolate slid to the plate. Here's the recipe for the redo - the first was just a box of Betty. http://www.hersheys.com/recipes/recipes/detail.asp?id=184

6.) I just used 'hence' in a sentence. Wow.

7.) I'm getting off work early tomorrow and I'm almost giddy about it. What's that about??

8.) Rob and I have taken to watching LOST again and I'm way into it. He brought home the projector from church to test it on the wall for the superbowl and I'm thinking it'd be way more fun than watching it in the office chair on the Mac. :)
9.) I, the one who owns a sewing machine purely for paper crafting, have been sewing lately. I have a couple really fun projects/surprises for Eli's birthday supper tomorrow night. I'll take some photos, I promise!! (and thanks Heather, for loaning me your machine while mine is under the weather!)

10.) I have been having a bad hair day for about 2 months now. I seriously hate it all grown out like it is now, but am working towards a new style and I'm soooo impatient. I debate calling Jennifer for an emergency cut like 12 times a day, I'm not kidding.
This is the big reveal of the haircut I'm going for, and it's still a long way off. I love the flippy/sassyness of it and I so know my hair could do that, if I don't attack it with scissors myself between now and then. :)

11.) I'm working on a new skit for Valentine's Day for church - got a special cast I'm pulling together and I'm pretty psyched about it! Stay tuned for details.

12.) I'm also working on the special plans for the Fireproof Valentine's dinner and a movie at church, I'm super excited about all that's going to happen there too! Enjoy the preview, this movie is amazing and I'm so thrilled to be sharing it at church!!



13.) I've wondered, am I the only one who was extremely disappointed in the music choices for the 'neighborhood ball' for the new president? I mean, come on, Beyonce? Shakira? Kayne West? seriously? It's disappointing to me to know that Mr. Prez listens to the music that is marked 'explicit' in the iTunes store. bummer. On that note, I'm just really sick of the celebrity status of our new leader in general. Stop goo-goo-ga-ing and let the guy get to work already. Looks like he has a really big job ahead of him.

14.) I have a serious addiction to Outback lately. Rob and I like to order Curbside after the kids go to bed and bring it home for a quiet date at home. The good news is that we split a meal and there's no drinks or tip. The bad news is that it's 2000 calories and it's still $15 that could go in our retirement account or on the sad little remainder of the ATP credit card. We are crossing it off our list until Valentine's Day and that will be our date that night.

15.) I finished an incredible book a little over a week ago. It's called 'the Shack' and I don't want to even tell you what it's about, but you should read it. Definitely a thinking book. It's also available on iTunes for about $5 as an audio book - which was a great way to take it in for me.



16.) Seriously, I am so tired and overwhelmed right now. I shouldn't even be on here, but Thursdays are supposed to be a day off, which means I should be able to do fun things like blog and watch tv - guilt free. I did work today, and spent a lot of the day prepping for tomorrows birthday stuff with Eli, but I could spend another 3 hours up and I just don't have it in me. Somedays, when I feel like this, I just have to put one foot in front of the other and push through a day (or event) at a time until it slows back down. I'd really, truly prefer not to live my life that way. And that's probably why I push in other things (like the special sewing projects) because I know this is the only life I have with my family and I want them to know how awesome I think they are. I can do it, some days I just can't think about it..


I think that's just about enough out of me for tonight. Love to you all. And because Thursday is winding down (aren't we sad to see it go?), Happy Friday!

Two Posts In One Day - scrapbook pages

I love the way this page turned out, quite by accident. It was the last page of the night and it was late, I was feeling uninspired. In my foggy brain these journaling pages looked like clouds and bam, there it was. Love the dimension and all the crazy shades of blue.
And once again, I can't get enough of these Heidi Swapp chipboard letters. Just wish they would stick!
I ordered a bunch of these bam pop frames and this is for some reason the first that I've used, but liked it with the woodgrain paper quite a bit! And the polka dot is new Jenni Bowlin paper. And I need to point out the scalloping on the top - that's a Lori inspired purchase - it's the Threading Water punch from Fiskars - very fun and easy to use!!
Here's Eli's birthday card. The inside is all me, but the outside is a complete and total lif from a Cards book that Heather brought over the other night. But I loved the Robot/Monster idea and thought E would totally get a kick out of it. My boy turns 8 next Monday! Wow!
And this is my Christmas Card page - just a fancy pocket for this years card. It could still use something, but I haven't figured out what just yet.




Oh, I forgot this lovely photo from yesterday, my fave of the day.

Promised Photos From Yesterday's Fun

So these are in no particular order, but all from yesterday and all of our family fun. It really was a ridiculously awesome day. We slept in, and meandered out about 10:30. Headed to the San Jac Monument first. It's a pretty cool site. And you have to remember that it's South Texas so it was a balmy 70 degrees, with a bit of a breeze (as you can see above) and just perfect running around weather.
Rob took this photo of himself and photoshopped it - I think it's pretty cool :)

And these two we took of each other, I already have a page in my brain of these photos looking at each other with the word "US" in between, can't wait!!
Sarah got new shoes the other day at the Old Navy clearance sale (I think I paid a $1.50 for these!), and totally understand her love of shoes. :)
Rob took this beautiful Texas Sky photo of us girls.
And this great shot of E and I on the steps of the monument.
Love this one of the kids cause they are truly always in motion like that!
And this photo is special cause you can still see her baby chin and her dual dimples. She thinks she's so grown up, but deep down she's just my sweet baby Sarah.
Eli snapped this one of us. He's discovered the zoom on my lens of the big camera, and was pretty enthralled. I totally understand.
Eli and Sam Houston. pretty fun.
Sarah told me that her Grandma Sally made this quilt. She does good work!
Snapped this shot on the way out of the monument, love the light and the silhouettes. So cool.
They weren't overly impressed. but we were. :)
I'm pretty sure I can see my house from here. All the way to the right. :)
Pretty incredible view.
Although, this view is pretty good too. I love that Eli lets me take his photo over and over and he's totally cool with it.
Actually, both of them are.
Sarah was enthralled with the seashells in the concrete. I am too, to think that seashells are so common here that they are used for pavement! wow.
Another cool shot of E.
And here's the monument in all it's glory. Just about 600 feet tall if I remember right.
We took the ferry boat over there. The kids never get tired of riding the ferry. It's crazy to me to think how close this is to our house, these big huge boats - so cool!
I'm probably biased, but I think my kids have the most beautiful eyes ever!!

Overall, it was an awesome day and I'm thankful we got to spend it as a family. Totally worth Rob taking a personal day. :)

Family Fun Day in the Thoreson Household

So I'm ridiculously excited to spend the day with my kiddos. We are heading to Webster eventually, but by way of the San Jac monument first, so it's going to be relatively awesome. Check back later for pictures!

Found Item

My friend Autumn had this on her blog and I just thought it was too brilliant not to share.

THE SPOILED UNDER-30 CROWD!!!

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears

with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were.

When they were growing up; what with walking Twenty-five miles

to school every morning. Uphill… barefoot…

BOTH ways…Yadda, yadda, yadda!

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up,

there was no way I was going to lay a bunch of

junk like that on kids about how hard I had it,

and how easy they’ve got it!

But now that I’m the ripe old age of thirty,

I can’t help but look around and notice the youth of today.

You’ve got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood,

you live in a Utopia! And I hate to say it but

you kids today don’t know how good you’ve got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn’t have The Internet.

If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the library

and look it up ourselves, in the card catalogue!!

There was no email!! We had to actually write

somebody a letter, with a pen!

Then you had to walk all the way across the street

and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!

There were no MP3′ s or Napsters! You wanted to steal music,

you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself!

Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio

and the DJ’d usually talk over the beginning and mess it all up!

We didn’t have fancy stuff like Call Waiting!

If you were on the phone and somebody else called,

they got a busy signal, that’s it!

And we didn’t have fancy Caller ID either!

When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was!

It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your Bookie,

a collections agent, you just didn’t know!!!

You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn’t have any fancy Sony Playstation video games

with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600!

With games Like ‘Space Invaders’ and ‘asteroids’.

Your guy was a little square!

You actually had to use your I-mag-ination!!

And there were no multiple levels or screens,

it was just one screen - Forever!

And you could never win.

The game just kept getting harder and harder and

faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

You had to use a Little book called a

TV Guide to find out what was on!

You were screwed when it Came to channel surfing!

You had to get off your rear and walk over to the TV

to change the channel and there was no

Cartoon Network either!

You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning.

Do you Hear what I’m saying!?!

We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons,

you spoiled little brats!

And we didn’t have microwaves.

If we wanted to heat something up we had to use the stove.

Imagine that!

That’s exactly what I’m talking about!

You kids today have got it too easy.

You’re spoiled. You guys wouldn’t have lasted

five minutes back in 1980!

Kids Say...

the darndest things.

Sarah, Eli and Rob are wrestling. I just heard Sarah say to Rob -

"You can be my whipper-bunser, so when someone's buns need whupped you can do it!"


yep, definitely raising a Texan. :)

A Beautiful Texas Sky

This sky amazed me on the way to church last night - it was breathtaking. I'm sure it was the most amazing sunset I've ever seen! God is such an artist! It definitely sparked a wonderful conversation with the kids. Just wish I had my big camera with me, but at least I got to photograph it on more than my phone!!

the LOFT Turn and Burn

We had a great service last night. The game was fun - they had to pick up an ever-shortening cereal box without the use of their hands and without getting on their knees. The game was made more entertaining by the Fruit Loops we passed out to the crowd. :) The winner won an entire box of Trix. The only thing that would of made it even more awesome would have been if we'd played Newsboys "Breakfast in Hell" while it was going on - but I just now thought of that.



Once we got done with the game we did small groups for a bit and I got a chance to snarf down a few Fruit Loops. (mmm... fruity)

After that PR talked about Turning over a new leaf in 2009. We wrote a thing we'd like to change on a small leaf and then sealed it in a self addressed envelope which he'll mail to us later this year. The next portion was Burning a bad habit. He handed out small slips of paper with the edges burnt and we wrote down a habit we'd like to leave in 2008 - then he brough the students down to a small fire I had started just out of the garage door. We all placed our habits in the fire and then sang a worship song - "Fire Fall Down" and while the fire consumed our bad habits we prayed for Holy Spirit power to overcome them and fill us in 2009. It was pretty cool!

Service ended on a high note and a bunch of us went over to MACdonald's for a late night snack. It was a great evening and PR and I are super psyched about what God's going to do in 2009 at theLOFT. We're praying!!

Love Bug

I've been meaning to share this video with you for a while. I absolutely love it - all the stylized vintage flair. And of course, the theme of a lengthy love story. That's what I want for my life!! Plus, the tune is super catchy as well.

I'd like to Dedicate a Song...

So tripping down Memory Lane this morning, I was listening to Relient K in the shower and this song came on and I feel the need to dedicate to my very best friend in the whole world - Rob Thoreson. I truly don't know where I end and he starts anymore. I'm so thankful for all that he is and that he's with me. :)

Vintage Mimery

My cousin stumbled across this video from back in 1994 (yep, that's 15 years ago) and was a sweetheart to convert it to digital format and I found it in my email yesterday. Awesome, huh? Ok, so it's a tiny video, and you about have to squint, but it's me in high school, performing a solo mime for my grandparent's 50th wedding anniversary. Both of my grandparents are/were very musically inclined, so it was right up there ally. I wrote this mime for them. My grandfather passed away a little over a year ago.

And the thing about mime, is that if it's any good, it's self-explanatory. And this one is good, for a 15 year old in her first year of training - but because of the size and quality of the video, a little explaining makes it a lot easier to watch, plus you totally can't see my face (which tells more than half the story) because of the angle of the camera.

So I'm a befuddled violinist. I have some, um.... issues, with my violin, ie; getting it stuck to my chin, getting the bow stuck in the strings, yanking it out, having it fall somewhere... unbecoming... and ultimately sawing my instrument in half. Then I have to fix that particular issue for a big finish. It's fun, and I hope you can follow it.

For the record, I had no recall of this actual mime whatsoever. I vaguely remember performing for my grandparents on the boat that was rented for their party, but having wrote this particular mime for them, I'm pretty sure it's the only time I ever performed it. But I was able to get all of that from watching it, so I guess it was reasonably decent! :)

That being said, enjoy my blast from the past!

Feeling Scrapbooky

Lori and I were scrapping till a little after ten last night. I'm hoping for a repeat this evening. :)