Chelsea's Senior Session

Chelsea's Senior Session

Chelsea's Senior Session

Chelsea's Senior Session

Chelsea's Senior Session

Chelsea's Senior Session

Posted via Pixelpipe.

First Forbeyon Album

First Forbeyon Album

First Forbeyon Album

First Forbeyon Album

First Forbeyon Album

First Forbeyon Album

First Forbeyon Album

First Forbeyon Album

First Forbeyon Album

Posted via Pixelpipe.

I was on Johnny Cash Radio!

This is actually the 2nd time that I've written to the show and the 2nd time they've mentioned my name on the air.

http://www.johnnycash.com/

If you listen about halfway through, my mention comes at about the 29.5 minute mark. I don't think you can fast forward on their site, but I download the shows from iTunes so I can go back an re-listen. :)

Man, I suck.

If I didn't want to have a completely separate personal blog where I could vent about work and non-photography (and photography too, I suppose), I would probably just get rid of this blog. But alas, I want to have an unprofessional outlet sometimes too. :) So here I am.

What's up, you ask?
Well, this week is chaotic. Stephanie is moving out on Wednesday. We just aren't getting along. And as a 27-year-old with a house, a business, a dog and a serious boyfriend, I'd like to have a clean (NOT spotless, however) home that stays relatively picked up without me having to do major cleaning for 2 hours before someone comes over. So that's my reasoning. Her reasoning is that she doesn't like my dog.

I'm selling some of my stuff. Nothing major really, but I sold 2 of my backdrops and my backdrop stands last week. I just don't want to do that type of shooting anymore. I'd rather use natural, urban, immovable backdrops from now on. I mean, that's what I have to do at weddings, so why not use it for all my portraits too? I'm also selling my original kit lens I got with my D200. It's been refurbished by Nikon twice and I'm just tired of dealing with it, plus it's slow (f3.5). My new Sigma lens more than makes up for it's crappiness though, so why have two similar lenses when one is obviously better?

Speaking of portraits, I'm getting ready to do a senior portrait session on Thursday. I CAN'T WAIT. It's going to be a blast and I've already got my creative juices flowing for some great locations and poses. Aaron's going to be my assistant for the first time. I'm not sure he's looking forward to it, but his job is easy and it will help me immensely.

Then we talked to Aaron's stepmom last night about maybe doing his stepbrother's senior pictures in a month or so. YAY!! Maybe this means I can get some more seniors booked for next year.

It is now TEN DAYS until Illinois football and I am so excited for this season to start. Not to mention that the kickoff is going to be extra fun because our whole crew (minus Kayla and Ryan) will be in St. Louis Friday night and all day Saturday. The only crappy part of the weekend is going to be the drive from STL to Peoria immediately after the game. I think we'll be lucky if we roll into our hotel room by 2 a.m. Then I have to be at the hair salon by around 9 a.m. to get my hair done for Kayla/Ryno's wedding. Whew! I'm SO SO SO glad I get Monday off to recover.

Although, Monday is the possibly the day Dad will start moving his stuff into his new house in Mason City. He wants me to help. I don't know how much help I'm going to be. So we'll see how that pans out.

Alright, I'm off to run some errands before lunch!

Edit: I totally forgot to mention the other reason this week is chaotic. My cousin Valerie needs a place to stay tonight, so she's coming with her toddler Annabelle. Oh, and she's also bringing her boyfriend Joe and his two boys! LOL... it's going to be a crazy night/morning, I'm sure.

I fixed my sunglasses!

The beads kept falling off, so I bought a bunch of replacement ones and some glue and it was SOOO easy to fix them.

Bathroom pics

Before:




After:





(sorry some of them aren't rotated!)

And after I make a couple more changes, I will update those pics as well. :) Let me know what you think of the color! And, this is the first time I have ever bought NICE towels in my entire life. Hehe...

The chicken salad saga continues...

I tried Panera's chicken salad on Friday. I was pleasantly surprised. It was pretty good, but I guess nothing special (no nuts or fruit). I also got it on Tomato Basil bread instead of whatever it was supposed to come on. The whole sandwich came in between $5.50 & $6, but I also got chips and a pickle spear with it! They also put mustard on the sandwich (not IN the salad though) and I thought it was a nice extra touch. Very light and refreshing, exactly what I want from my chicken salad.

I'm almost ready to post the before and after shots of my bathroom.

And tonight I'm going to continue to work on wedding albums and refine my watermarking process so I actually use it (on both my blog and Flickr!... maybe Facebook too). Stealing images is becoming more and more prominent you know!

Oh, and I almost forgot... one of my kitchen lights just DROPPED from the ceiling last night. For no reason at all. No one was even in the room. So I'm off to a couple of the home stores to find a new light that I like.

Painting on a Friday night

The night before I was shooting a wedding no less. I painted my bathroom this past Friday night because I had no idea when I was going to get it done this summer. So I just did it. It took me about 2 hours to take everything down and out of the room to prep for the paint and then another 1.5 hours later to do the 2nd coat. Not too shabby. Plus I watched Nevan and mopped the kitchen floor in between. :D I am a machine!

I'm trying to do some more creative stuff in regard to my engagement and senior photography lately. Be sure to check out the HBP blog to see my recent work. Tell your friends! I can always use more business.

I'm about to pull the trigger on that other lens I mentioned in my post below. I think I can definitely swing it if I get another photo order or two in this month (I'm anticipating a couple) and if I get my other broken lens fixed and sold. I'm also going to get serious about putting my studio equipment up on Ebay/Craigslist (I'd rather NOT ship it).

Tonight Aaron and I are taking Nev to Prairie Farm again (we went last week after they were closed and just walked around the outside). Then we're going to hit up BW3 for cheap wings and Walmart so Aaron can buy NCAA2009, which he has been EAGERLY anticipating. I think it will be pretty cool to see our players and see if they've updated Memorial Stadium any more.

Well, back to work. Peace out!

While I've Got You Here...

Actually, I just can't sleep. But while I'm up, I might as well update my blog, right? Meh.

Update 1: I've been severely slacking on the chicken salad updates. I don't think I've had any in maybe 2, 3 weeks. I really need to get on it. I did stop at Strawberry Fields randomly one day thought and DIDNT FIND ANY CHICKEN SALAD. Also of note, I ate at Arby's this week and avoided my beloved to-date favorite chicken salad in favor of the new toasted French Dip Au Jus sandwich. It was delicious, but I probably could have and should have only eaten half of it and saved the other half for later.

Update 2: Lately Aaron and I have been taking Nevan out for these Wednesday night dinners and activities and we've been having a lot of fun. Last week we went to Za's and then to Menard's again. This week we went to Junior's/Cozy's for some greasy burgers and frozen custard. Mmm... Nevie loved all of it. Then we took him to West Side Park where we discovered that he doesn't yet like slides, but he LOVES the swing! Then we took a nice walk around the park with his Illini stroller and headed home.

Update 3: I can't sleep. Obviously. Ugh. I'm going to have to start depending on teh sleeping pills nearly every freaking night.

Update 4: Paisley is whiny and clingy. She hasn't yet peed in my house, but she has peed in Aaron's apt. twice. Once while we were looking at her. Stupid dog. She's sleeping right now soundly and doesn't even seem to notice that I'm on the computer in the same room. Good dog!

Update 5: I need more photography gigs. My business is going to be hurting around mid-fall if I don't book at least one more wedding before like February. Tell all your friends! Don't get me wrong... I am making money, but bills seem to come out of nowhere, including the COMPLETELY STUPID Yellow Pages ad I took out last November. What a horrible, awful idea that was. I tell you I won't be doing that again. I've also had to buy a new lens--a purchase I wasn't anticipating, and I'm wanting one other lens. I'm planning to sell some of my unused equipment in September or October though when my wedding $$ is starting to dry up for the winter. I REALLY want to do more senior & engagement sessions because those seem to be the most fun and the least time-consuming for me.

Alright... back to bed to try and catch maybe just a few winks.

Here's the exciting news!

Paisley!

Yay!!

Night Out with Nevy

I will apologize first saying I wish I took photos last night.

Aaron and I decided we didn't want to cook last night so we decided to go to Hickory River Smokehouse which is just down the street from my house. Since we were out playing with Nevan in the driveway we decided to take him along (after we asked Steph's permission).

So we went and feasted on garlic mashed taters, sweet corn, mac n cheese, smoked beef brisket with mild BBQ sauce and cornbread. Nevan loved all of it! And he was a very good boy (he usually is when he's not around Mommy). We were having such a fun time that Aaron said "we should take him out to eat with us once a week." So I think we'll do that. It gets him out of Steph's hair for a little while and Nevan's a cheap date (we bought one extra side for him and shared the rest so he only cost us $1.25). LOL

Once we were done eating we decided to run to Menard's to check on chain link fence prices and grab a couple other random items. Nevan likes riding in shopping carts! He gets this big grin on his face once you start to push him backwards. Again, he was a very good boy except when he started smelling like poo.

We also wanted to run to Petsmart to check on pet supplies and look at the fish. Nevan wasn't too interested in the animals, but we let him drag his hand along the Molly tanks and watch them follow his tiny fingers. We could tell he was getting tired as every so often his eyes would droop. He was asleep when we pulled back in the driveway.

Oh, fun times. :)

I might have some exciting news later this week!

Check out my new car sign!

What do you think? It's simple and to the point. And I didn't want my phone number on there since it's my cell phone and my only line. The worst thing would be driving down the interstate and having some creepster call me and say something like "I'm driving right next to you..." yeah, creepy.

Aaron and I are off to Ohio this weekend! We leave tomorrow night for a nice 3-day weekend. I hope we can relax and have some fun. I'm looking very forward to it!

On the agenda:
Air Force Museum
Skyline Chili
Visiting Aaron's friend Brett
Visiting my cousin Amanda & Kirk, Brady & Bethany
Visiting Aaron's Grandma and extended family in southern Ohio

We wanted to take in a Reds game, but it won't work out this time. :(

cUpdate...

aka cupcake update. Today I had the lavender honey... I didn't think it was that bad at the time, but I keep burping up the taste of herbs. Gross. The frosting was again stellar though. So there's that.

I'm now done with weddings until July, so I should have a little more time to post in June. Well, photographically speaking at least. Saturday I have a bridal shower and a bachelorette party and then Sunday I have another bridal shower. Whew!

The second weekend in June, Aaron and I are planning a trip to Ohio to see one of my cousins (Amanda) and her family and then move on to see some of his extended family. Hopefully it will be a relaxed (read: not rushed) long weekend. I'm using my last vacation day until August 1, so it better be good!! :)

The weekend of the 21st I'm going down to STL to visit the Steeles and take some baby portraits for them. Mim and Cora, here I come!

Aaron has been talking about me going camping for some time now, so he and some of our friends have been planning a camping trip (somewhere in Indiana along Lake Michigan) for the last weekend in June.

So, basically, even though I won't have any weddings, I won't be home at all the 4 weekends in June either. Fun, but kind of sad. I want to spend some quality summer time with my house. :(

America, you did well!!!!

EXCELLENT JOB CHOOSING DAVID COOK LAST NIGHT!!

I am so thrilled and excited to see what this guy has in store. I already bought about 7 of his singles just from the show. I think he epitomizes the term "American Idol."

What a great ending to an entertaining season. w00t!!

Slacker=me

Actually, I've just been really busy updating my other blog. Anyway, I'm getting a blue slushie after work. I thought you'd all like to know!! :D

Holy pressure, Batman!

My friend Karyl asked me back in February if I would help her shoot another wedding (I helped her out about a year ago as well). Today we met for lunch to go over the details. She starts out "I'm going to mainly be there as a guest, but I will oversee you and the other photographer who will only be there for about 3 hours." Ok, whatever, that's not terribly odd I suppose.

Then, she drops the bomb... "It's my daughter's wedding." !!!!! "I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to back out." LOL, oh man.

So I stick with her and we go over the necessary shots, schedule, map of the country club, etc. So far I feel pretty good about it, but this is going to be slightly nerve-wracking.

If anything, I will need comfortable shoes (my normal wedding shoes have never been all that comfy), so I'm going to go shopping sometime over the course of the next week and spend a little $$ on some solid, long-lasting shoes. If I have to be worried about pleasing the bride and (almost more importantly this time) the mother of the bride, I'd better at least have good shoes.

I forgot to add: I am incredibly humbled and honored that she asked me. I think the first thing I actually said to her was "I'm glad that you trust me enough to do it." She is what I would consider a "high-end wedding photographer" for Champaign-Urbana, and I've only been doing this a few years and can't even make a living at it yet! :) Maybe this will open up some major doors for me, who knows?

Stimulated by the US government

Got my extra refund today! I didn't exactly use it the way GWB intended though... :) Instead, I put a chunk of it into my savings account and used most of the rest of it to pay bills. Hey, I'm still paying off this Macbook Pro I bought last fall.

Holly Birch Photography has been busy!

And it's only going to get worse for the next 6 weeks or so. I have been updating my business blog much more frequently than I have my personal one, so if you want to see what I've been up to, you should go there. I've also updated my website too, changing out some old samples and putting more of my recent work up. My web designer is supposed to be updating the flash photos on the front page for me this weekend... it's going to look awesome!!

Wedding season officially starts for me tomorrow. It should be fairly easy -- I'm working for Scott at Memory Lane again but shooti--er--photographing with my friend Rob. Rob will be the primary photographer and I'll serve as the secondary, floating around doing candids and getting those off to the side shots while the bridal party is posing for Rob. And it's just off Mattis and I don't have to be there until 1:30 and I think I'll be done by 10. So, not a bad day's work.

Then, since Aaron is at drill this weekend, and it would probably be good for me to get away from the house and do something by myself, I'm going to treat myself to a trip up to Ikea. I've had a bunch of stuff to return for a while, and I'd like to stock up on little things that I've been needing around the house. I can't tell you how many times since I've moved in I've said "man, I KNOW I could get that at Ikea," or "I could get this SO much cheaper at Ikea," or "I know Ikea has exactly what I want." So, I'm going. Hey, I get my economic stimulus check in like 7 days anyway, right? :)

Alright, back to the boring world of PG...

Now, while I'm on the subject of food...

I have to discuss the new cupcake bar in downtown Champaign. I have mixed feelings. Don't get me wrong - the cupcake I just inhaled from there was delicious, but they only have about 5 flavors right now and I guess they are going to update their flavors every couple weeks or so.

The name of the bar is another issue. All I'd ever heard it referred to since the very humble beginnings was "Cream & Flutter." When I walked in today (at the Grand Opening), the name appeared to be "Cakes on Walnut." Maybe people didn't know what Cream & Flutter was.

My other issue is this: in everything I'd ever read about the place, they referred to it as a "bar," but they mentioned several times that they didn't plan on serving alcohol. Today, half of the menu is beer, wine and spirits. They'd mentioned that they wanted to cater to the late-night crowd (I guess cupcakes make good drunk food?), so maybe they think they'll cater better to that crowd if they can keep drinking while chowing down on cupcakes. Or maybe, since they've changed everything else, they don't plan on being open late anymore.

Enough about logistics and back to the case in point: cupcakes. I ordered the vanilla since all they had ready (at 9:45 a.m., mind you, they opened at 7 a.m.) was vanilla, red velvet and strawberry balsamic. The red velvet looked good but I wanted a big cupcake and they only had that in vanilla. The cake was moist and sweet, but the frosting was the best part. It was very airy and fluffy, but rich at the same time. I'm pretty sure it was real whipped cream with the little black specs of vanilla bean you get when someone makes vanilla the right way. Mmmm... so, it was a decent breakfast, albeit unhealthy.

The last comment I have about Cakes on Walnut is about prices. I paid $5.41 for a big cupcake and a small hot tea (12 oz.). Seemed a little steep when I can go to Pekara or Aroma and get a pastry and a tea for less than $4. I noticed that they also serve cereal and milk for $3.50! I can buy a box of cereal for that and keep it at my desk at work. I don't see that menu item flying off the shelves.

Anyway, I'll probably go back to try more flavors of cupcakes, but I'm going to walk down with my bottle of water in hand so I get out of there without spending too much.

Ok, you can call me a nerd.

I have started a chicken salad sandwich spreadsheet. Go ahead, mock me.

It is my goal to find the best chicken salad in Champaign-Urbana. And as I was savoring just that at Bob Evans last night for dinner, I decided that I might as well blog about it, mostly because my spreadsheet doesn't allow for loads of extra comments and such.

So, without further ado, here is my Bob Evans Chicken Salad Sandwich Platter review:
Upon first bite, I suspected that FINALLY I might have found a chicken salad that would rival that of my beloved Arby's. This sandwich hung in there for a while until I started to realize that most of the other "components" of the salad were just a simple pickle relish and not actually diced chunks of deliciousness (see grapes, walnuts, pecans, etc.). I was sorely disappointed. The one thing though, that made this sandwich really lovable overall, however, was the buttery grilled sourdough that it was served on. Stupendous. And I've now decided that perhaps I should add a "Value" column to my spreadsheet. At Arby's, the sandwich alone costs me around $6 (granted it is a large sandwich). At Bob Evans though, I got the sandwich and two sides (I had mashed potatoes and gravy and a fruit dish) for around $8. To me, that's a good value. I was absolutely stuffed when I walked out, but I felt good.

Grade: A-

Proverbs 31 woman

I was thinking the other day that subconsciously I've been slowly molding my life around that of the Proverbs 31 woman. I remember thinking a couple years ago that there was no way anyone - let alone me - could ever live up to such high standards. But wouldn't you know it, I've taken up some (not all!) of this amazing, theoretical woman's talents and characteristics. This post is not meant to brag by any means, but I think my soul really yearns to be like her, so I'm happy that without knowing it, I've started the transformation.

(p.s. I have to give some of the credit to Andrea [among others], because I think living with her really changed part of my mindset, and also living in a house for the first time since before college was helpful too.)

EDIT:
I've added this version because Grandma didn't like the one from the Message at the bottom:

New Living Translation
A Wife (or SINGLE WOMAN! - Holly's edit) of Noble Character
10 Who can find a virtuous and capable wife?
She is more precious than rubies.
11 Her husband can trust her,
and she will greatly enrich his life.
12 She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life.
13 She finds wool and flax
and busily spins it.
14 She is like a merchant’s ship,
bringing her food from afar.
15 She gets up before dawn to prepare breakfast for her household
and plan the day’s work for her servant girls.
16 She goes to inspect a field and buys it;
with her earnings she plants a vineyard.
17 She is energetic and strong,
a hard worker.
18 She makes sure her dealings are profitable;
her lamp burns late into the night.
19 Her hands are busy spinning thread,
her fingers twisting fiber.
20 She extends a helping hand to the poor
and opens her arms to the needy.
21 She has no fear of winter for her household,
for everyone has warm[c] clothes.
22 She makes her own bedspreads.
She dresses in fine linen and purple gowns.
23 Her husband is well known at the city gates,
where he sits with the other civic leaders.
24 She makes belted linen garments
and sashes to sell to the merchants.
25 She is clothed with strength and dignity,
and she laughs without fear of the future.
26 When she speaks, her words are wise,
and she gives instructions with kindness.
27 She carefully watches everything in her household
and suffers nothing from laziness.
28 Her children stand and bless her.
Her husband praises her:
29 “There are many virtuous and capable women in the world,
but you surpass them all!”
30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last;
but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised.
31 Reward her for all she has done.
Let her deeds publicly declare her praise.

And just for fun, here's the NIV version:
10 [c] A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.
11 Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.
12 She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life.
13 She selects wool and flax
and works with eager hands.
14 She is like the merchant ships,
bringing her food from afar.
15 She gets up while it is still dark;
she provides food for her family
and portions for her servant girls.
16 She considers a field and buys it;
out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.
17 She sets about her work vigorously;
her arms are strong for her tasks.
18 She sees that her trading is profitable,
and her lamp does not go out at night.
19 In her hand she holds the distaff
and grasps the spindle with her fingers.
20 She opens her arms to the poor
and extends her hands to the needy.
21 When it snows, she has no fear for her household;
for all of them are clothed in scarlet.
22 She makes coverings for her bed;
she is clothed in fine linen and purple.
23 Her husband is respected at the city gate,
where he takes his seat among the elders of the land.
24 She makes linen garments and sells them,
and supplies the merchants with sashes.
25 She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.
26 She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
27 She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
28 Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:
29 "Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all."
30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
31 Give her the reward she has earned,
and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

(From The Message)
Hymn to a Good Wife
10-31 A good woman is hard to find,
and worth far more than diamonds.
Her husband trusts her without reserve,
and never has reason to regret it.
Never spiteful, she treats him generously
all her life long.
She shops around for the best yarns and cottons,
and enjoys knitting and sewing.
She's like a trading ship that sails to faraway places
and brings back exotic surprises.
She's up before dawn, preparing breakfast
for her family and organizing her day.
She looks over a field and buys it,
then, with money she's put aside, plants a garden.
First thing in the morning, she dresses for work,
rolls up her sleeves, eager to get started.
She senses the worth of her work,
is in no hurry to call it quits for the day.
She's skilled in the crafts of home and hearth,
diligent in homemaking.
She's quick to assist anyone in need,
reaches out to help the poor.
She doesn't worry about her family when it snows;
their winter clothes are all mended and ready to wear.
She makes her own clothing,
and dresses in colorful linens and silks.
Her husband is greatly respected
when he deliberates with the city fathers.
She designs gowns and sells them,
brings the sweaters she knits to the dress shops.
Her clothes are well-made and elegant,
and she always faces tomorrow with a smile.
When she speaks she has something worthwhile to say,
and she always says it kindly.
She keeps an eye on everyone in her household,
and keeps them all busy and productive.
Her children respect and bless her;
her husband joins in with words of praise:
"Many women have done wonderful things,
but you've outclassed them all!"
Charm can mislead and beauty soon fades.
The woman to be admired and praised
is the woman who lives in the Fear-of-God.
Give her everything she deserves!
Festoon her life with praises!

Sometimes my job drives me bonkers

But I enjoy when I am right and some higher-up makes a bad decision. Is that so wrong? :)

WE ARE IN!! We painted last Friday and I'm happy with all our paint choices.


We moved EVERYTHING for all four of us on Saturday. Dad came with the livestock trailer and we took one full load from Andrea's house, then went to Steph's apt and filled it about 2/3 full. Then I spent most of the rest of the day unpacking and fixing things. By the end of Day #2 I was severely hurting.

Sunday, Mom, Joe and Izzy came with Subway and chips and helped us with some more minor projects around the house. By the end of Day #3 I was hurting even more. BUT, Mom got me a RED KITCHENAID MIXER!! It has been my heart's desire for many years now:

woooohoooo!!

Housewarming is planned for April 19th after the Spring Game.

Color Wheel

These are the colors that are going in my house (for now):
Cranberry Zing
Hazelnut Truffle
Eyeshadow
Silver Brocade Foliage
Norman Villa Neutral

I'm buying the paint today. Last week I bought 3 appliances. We've got a moving truck and some friends coming to help us move on Saturday.

Pray for nice weather and sunshine!

House updates:

Inspection is done. Nothing major.
I've hired an attorney for the closing which is turning out to be a very good idea as the sellers attorney is giving us a hard time with one of the inspection clauses.
I have just 4 more documents to turn in at the bank, and everything with them will be done except for the closing.
I'm starting to think about appliances, and I think I'm going to get them at Sears.
I've typed up the lease agreements and distributed them to both roommates.
I've written out house rules also.
I'm pretty close to deciding on paint colors and now know where I will be buying the paint and supplies.
I have my first year of homeowner's insurance paid for.
I've thrown a LOT of stuff out, and I've dropped off 3 large bags of mine and Steph's stuff at Goodwill, with a few more bags to go.
I'm also trying to sell some books and picture frames on ebay and craigslist.

Oh, and I've started reading Unclutterer.com. :)

I've gone and bought a house!

Finally.

Except there are a few things that are up in the air, like the inspection which is tomorrow, and the closing won't happen until 3/28. I hope everything goes smoothly the next 3-4 weeks!

We (Aubrey, Stephanie, Nevan and I) went and looked at it on Saturday with Dad, Nate, Grandma and Pappy. Here's the pic of the new roommates in front of our new house!


Here are the specs for those of you interested in that:
4 BR
2 BA
1309 sq ft.
2.5 car garage
In Urbana, about a mile from 74 near Cunningham.
Built in 1996 (fairly new!)

My birthday was pretty good.

Birthdays are not as exciting anymore once you hit your late 20s. Mine was still good though. Mom gave me a gift card to the spa and they were able to get me in at the end of the day on my actual birthday, so I left work early and headed over for a full body massage and seaweed mud treament. It rocked. Then Aaron picked me up for dinner and we headed to FlatTop for some create-your-own stir fry. Mmmm... After dinner we went to Kohl's and Bed, Bath, and Beyond looking for the Dutch Oven that I had asked Aaron for for my birthday (not THAT kind of Dutch oven, you sickos). We found a great deal on a RED Cuisinart pot/pan set at BBB for $100. And with my 20% coupon we decided we couldn't pass it up. Then we raced home to grab the cake and ice cream and head to the Smiths to share it with Debbie whose birthday is also on 2/26. It was DELICIOUS and very cute.

I think I had a record number of hits on my facebook yesterday too, so it's nice to feel loved even though I'm 27. :)

Today, the house search continues as I have relented yet again and agreed to look in Urbana. I'm going to look at 4 houses with my 3rd realtor. Yes, third. One house I have looked at before, but I wrote it off due to where it is located, but I'm willing to give it another shot because I really like the house itself.

Oh, and I'm incredibly bored at work this week.

I'm thinking about getting a dog.

That is all. :)

Things I have learned in 2008:

1) Buying a foreclosure is not as glamourous as the TV commercials make it sound.
2) A "buyer's market" is not necessarily the greatest gift to first-time home buyers.
3) I don't have as much money as I thought I did.
4) I have more money than I thought I did.
5) I don't like realtors. At all. If I could leave them out of this whole deal, I would totally do it.
6) I wish I didn't have so much stuff.
7) Termites can kiss my butt.
8) No one's opinion on my future house matters as much as mine.
9) You can't get a conventional loan if most of your down payment is a gift (my banker neglected to tell me this the first two times I met with her).
10) Winter is NOT the time to be looking for houses.
11) I am NOT looking forward to the house inspection, regardless of the house.

The big night has finally arrived.

To be honest, I'm kind of scared. So I can only imagine that EG is shaking in his Adidas high tops. He's not going to have a fun night, that's for sure. And I hope we put the hurt on him and his teammates and give them a scare if not a loss. And I hope EG has his lowest point total of the season. He deserves it, and what better place for it to happen than in the House of Paign?

What Illini fans have planned for Mr. Gordon

And, signing day was a success again! Go Zook!!

Holy crap! I was in the presence of MJ!

That's right, the one and only #23, and arguably the best basketball player in history: Michael Jordan. My heart jumped up in my throat when I first saw him, but I obviously had to keep my composure because I was a member of the media for the day.

Here are a couple of the pics I got:





Here's the video from BTN... if you look closely you might be able to see me. I'm sitting on the floor, the 2nd person in from the end of the Illinois bench.

Snow day! (sort of)

Yet, I'm sitting here at work, so it's not much of a snow day I guess.

Steph and I have big plans to go to Red Lobster for dinner and then go see 27 Dresses tonight. U of I didn't call off classes, but Steph is boycotting since she has a 6 month old. He will be going to the babysitter's tonight though. Hopefully my friend Betsy can come too unless she can't get out of her 1/4 mile long driveway in the country. :(

Aaron is off to drill this weekend, so he's busy until about Super Bowl time. I'm gonna take it easy tomorrow morning and then head over to Assembly Hall to shoot pics at the Purdue game, which we're going to lose. But then several of my peeps will be here to hang out at Jupiter's into the evening hours so that will be fun! Sunday will be another relaxing afternoon until I head to Vineyard for teh Super Bowl festivities. I'll hang out there for a couple hours and then probably go to Aaron's to watch the 2nd half after he gets back from drill.

I have now looked at about 25 houses. There are a couple promising ones, including a foreclosure that I could probably get pretty cheap. It actually wasn't in horrible shape for a foreclosure, and if I got it cheap, I'd have more $$ for new carpet and some repairs. Here's the other one I'm interested in: http://realtyassociates1.illinois.remax.com/listings/ListingDetail_r4.aspx?LID=38600928#
It has lots of space in the basement, which is very appealing to me. If I got this one, I think Steph and Nevan could live in the basement. Then the 3rd bedroom could be the office.

What else? I'm booking more weddings, so I'm about 2 away from my 2008 goal of 8 total weddings. :) I hired an accountant now that my tax prep is going to be out of control with all the things I have going on... business, 401K, savings, IRA, charitable contributions... I'm sure I would screw it up if I did it myself. I'm afraid to see the bill for that though.

Have fun playing in the snow everyone!

Everyday, boring happenings in the world of me

TGIF.

I just shipped batch 2 of the microbiology book I'm working on. That feels good.

This week I looked at a FSBO house that is out of my price range. Stephanie tells me I need to suck it up and ask dad to co-sign with me so that I can get approved at a little bit higher price. (I can afford it, but the bank won't count the rental income as actual income for me until they've rented for at least one year.) An extra $10-15K would get me into a much nicer housing bracket with the space that the 4 of us will need.

Tonight I am going to the grand opening of my friend Melissa's studio in Monticello. You can see her work at: www.melissawaller.com. Then I'm planning on having a pretty lazy weekend, outside of doing more house hunting and cleaning at home.

Just heard back from the realtor... I'm going to look at 2 or 3 houses tonight and then another one on Sunday or Monday.

I'm ready to go home.

Our men's basketball team sucks.

Is it too much to ask to have a good football team AND a good basketball team all at the same time? Usually I'm looking forward to basketball season, but now I can't wait for fall to get here and the return of the Ron Zook squad.

The house hunt is in full force. I've seen 2 really crappy houses, one that was decent, one that was way too small and I'm going to see another one or two on Sunday. Going to look a little in the FSBO route as well, and Steph wants me to check out a condo (one very similar to the one I lived in about 7 years ago -OUCH!- that I absolutely LOVED). I don't know anything about condo fees though. That could be the deal breaker. Ugh.

Well, my high school friends have been planning a get together in St. Louis for this weekend for about 6 weeks now. Everything was going smoothly until we found out this morning that Taylor's mom has died. So I guess some of us will be heading back to the old stomping grounds on Sunday or Monday for a visitation. I wish I'd have gotten more pics of her at Taylor and Stan's wedding in May. Diane had been sick for a while, so at least it wasn't unexpected. That doesn't make it much easier to deal with I guess though. So the STL plans are still on, but we'll all be thinking of Taylor, Stan, Paul, Stephanie & Peter I'm sure.