Happy National Coffee Day!

This has been a slow week in the substitute teaching world. As in, my phone has maybe rung twice for jobs this week...and one of those was for a job in November. But yesterday was the first day in a week I've actually felt better, so maybe it worked out for the best.

I put together this page yesterday using a few pictures from my birthday weekend. I had way more cute photos of Brody playing in the grass than of people, so I will definitely keep that in mind next time I have my camera out.

I've heard that there are four "crafting styles" that people tend to be in: fun and cute, clean and graphic, classy and elegant, or shabby and vintage. I think I'm most likely in the clean and graphic category...or maybe fun and cute? I don't know. I just feel like I tend to stick to simple ideas, with mainly photos + words on my pages.

On an unrelated note, I made these baked apples for a snack yesterday. I must say, for 150 calories...DELICIOUS!! I didn't need any whipped cream or ice cream with it, and I even had all the ingredients on hand. :)

I actually finished this page last year...one of my first digital pages from an assignment for class where I taught myself Photoshop. But I figured I would share it anyways. Just a few photos from when Tyson and I got engaged. Dad was operating the camera so you can't see us in some of them, but the scenery is breathtaking!

Random Ramblings

I didn't book a sub job yesterday...Mondays seem to be very slow! But I wasn't feeling that great anyways, so I had an awesome time hanging out with Brody, cleaning up around the apartment, getting the laundry done, and grocery shopping. Low key but so needed. The weekend was pretty packed (or so it seemed as I forgot my Mucinex and I felt pretty terrible the whole time): we headed down to College Station Friday evening, and then Tyson and Brody went on to the ranch while I attended a lovely shower at The Lemon Wedge for my sister-in-law. Then it was up to the ranch for me too...Tyson had some welding to do on Sunday and I watched him and frolicked in the grass, enjoying the weather.

I ordered a Wacom tablet which came bundled with Photoshop Elements, so I've spent a little time playing. Yesterday I sent this to Tyson at work. I'm definitely a beginner with my digital handwriting. But I had fun. :o) Hopefully I'll have some digital scrapbook pages to share soon!

No menu planning to share this week...my mom made chicken spaghetti and sent it to stick in the oven for a few meals. I also got a coupon from HEB to get an orange plate special from their cafe, so I got pecan crusted chicken, almond green beans, and roasted potatoes for free! I think we'll share that with a salad one night perhaps. Anyways. Looking forward to finding more new recipes. Any good ones out there?

Baby Brody

I can't believe he ever used to be this little! [January 2009]

I find this very impressive that it was shot in one take!

100!

Happy 100th post!! I'm not getting my free Photoshop Elements software until next week so this awesome labor of love in Paint will have to suffice. :)

I love rain! Especially a lazy, rainy Sunday afternoon. However, when we get extended amounts of rain, something with our AC unit outside blows a fuse and our breaker flips. Constantly. So we pretty much don't have air conditioning. Tyson is pretty handy, but it's wet outside (and dark) and he doesn't want to get electrocuted. Not that I blame him.

We have been out of town the past few weekends, so it was really nice just staying here and hanging out. Granted, football was on pretty much the whole time...(and we listened to the Aggie game online!) but I got to watch Medium tonight so I'm okay now. We had date night Friday night--trying to live reasonably (read: cheaply) so we were going to take advantage of a coupon to Chili's we had but the wait was long and our tummies were growling. So we went to Potato Shack instead. I love having one here in Katy, but it's just not the same as eating it in College Station! I mean, it tastes exactly the same...but it's still different. I should quit complaining and just be grateful though, right?

I baked an especially tasty loaf of bread this afternoon. It kind of looks like a brain in the picture, but it was pretty much amazing. Mozzarella Basil Bread. Wonderful. I am especially looking forward to baking the first pumpkin loaf of the season! 

Updates

This week has gone by quickly for me! It was a pretty good one though. Here are a few of the highlights:

:: The guest bedroom is finally coming together! It's been our dumping ground for anything we didn't really need, so it was pretty depressing. The bed is put together now, and only needs a few decorative pillows (which isn't in the budget, so who knows when that will happen!). All of the empty boxes are gone, and I just need to go through a few more boxes and reorganize our bookshelf. Hooray!

:: I won a contest on twitter! I've never won anything, so I was pretty excited. Bravo was having a sweepstakes for the Top Chef season 7 finale and Top Chef Just Desserts premiere and I will soon be getting all three of the Top Chef cookbooks!! YAY!!!! Tyson gave me the newest book on my birthday and I absolutely love looking through it. Mom liked it a lot too, so she is getting my duplicate. She's excited too!

:: We had our first week of small group on Wednesday and really like it so far! Everyone seems really nice, and it's great to meet other recently married couples.

:: I'm finally approved to sub in Fort Bend ISD! I had an interesting time figuring out the system Thursday night so I didn't get a job for Friday, but I'm definitely thinking next week will be busier. I also have my Katy sub training next Friday, and I'm really excited to start subbing around here. :o)

I think that's about it...we're at home listening to the A&M football game online and it's torture! I am looking forward to televised games. Happy weekend!