Family History

I went exploring at my parents home in Groom today and found a lovely old truck hanging around. It belongs to my Uncle Kenny but originally was owned by Grandandy (my great grandfather Elbert DeLozier.)

Holiday Season

James and I met the crowds head on today as we finished up our Christmas shopping. It has not felt like the same ol' Christmas season to me this year. Normally I love going out dealing with all the people finding the great deals and doing all the other things associated with getting ready for Christmas. This year I find myself wanting to be around family so much. I don't get to see my family but 2 maybe 3 times a year and that does not include my brother. I only see my brother once a year. For my family we have gone to drawing names to give presents away instead of giving gifts to everyone. I think this has given my family more time to actually spend Christmas together doing what we should be doing on Christmas and during the holiday......spending time with each other. I remember Christmas used to be all about what I got for Christmas. Now all I want is some good time with my family being thankful for them.
This year it seems like more people are taking a look around and at least giving gifts that can give back. I saw a morning show that gave a listing (not a complete listing) of gift you could buy that would give back. I saw shoes (toms), reusable grocery bags (FEED), childrens laptops(one laptop per child), and a very cool website called goodshop.com. It seems as though we might be back on track with trying to help out those in need again instead of just giving to ourselves.
I am very grateful for the life and family that I was given. If we always acted this way I do think that we might could actually change the world we live in...giving to those who need, who we love, and spending as much time as we can loving those around us!

Being Creative

The past two weeks have been full of creativity. Way more than I am used to. I have loved it though. I have been doing alot more photography these days and I am grateful for a couple of families who have allowed me some time to take pictures. I have been able to capture of few pictures that I think are real good but I still have ALOT to learn. I also have tried coming up with a "business name" for my pictures to go under. I still don't know for sure if what I have come up with will be final or if anyone will even pronounce it right. I am hopeful though. I have also had a cake to make. My friend Donna is having a baby in January and I was given the task of making the cake. I have had since the middle of October to decide what to do. It was a hard task to do. I finally came up with an idea and my practice cake came out okay, but the final cake did not turn out the same way. I had to make a few adjustments but I think that the final cake came out better than my vision. I have loved all the opportunities I have had and hope to have more. It gives me hope that perhaps one of these days James and I can have kids and I won't have to go back to work full time at a desk job. Below are a few examples of my pictures and the cake that I made. I would love to have feedback from anyone who reads! You can also view these and other pictures from the shoots at http://gallery.me.com/law.michele . Feel free to check it out!

Camping

We tried camping on Friday but everything kinda fell through. We got up early and went out to the campground with some friends only to find out that there was a burn ban. Something that we should have looked into in the first place but no one thought of. It was going to be cold so we decided against freezing and ended up in the backyard in the middle of suburbia to cook out and make smores over the fire. There was no camping but the fellowship was great! A smores cooked over a camp fire can also make just about any night fun. I was hoping to get some more great nights shots since we would be out in the open without all the city lights. I have been trying to recreate or even get close to the first night shots that I did about 2 years ago and have not been able to. Hopefully over the Christmas holiday while I am back home I can get some more shots. Here are the ones I took 2 years ago.

Self Portrait

Newest self portrait. A cold front blew in and almost made it cool enough to feel like late fall.

Trying a new pose

Trying something new. Not exactly what I wanted but feel pretty good for a rough picture.
Here is another edit I made of the photo.

Seeing Color

I will being seeing some new color in my life soon! I just recently found out that I will be hired on as an Apple employee instead of being a contact worker! More pay, job security, benefits, discounts, free gym, and the fact that I know that I am capable to do my job. Fantastic! My time spent as a contract with Apple has been quite crazy. I was on the phones for just a few weeks when we were pulled into another group to help with backlogs and then we were put back on the phones. When we were put back on the phones my login and other important items were not working and not all of them working yet. I have not been getting important feedback because of those items not working. I had been assuming that I was doing my job well but not really knowing anything. This job offer has given my a boost in my confidence in my ability to do my job. With the new job (same job but with the good stuff attached) I will get new login information and such which will solve alot of these issues! Currently the Apple on my badge is gray and on November 10th it suddenly have color. I can't wait!

Downtown Round Rock

James and I went to downtown Round Rock to take a few pictures. I am trying to work on my editing skills and needed some new pictures to work with. I was not really up for taking my own picture so James volunteered. It is really amazing what you can do with a picture if you know what settings to mess with. Might not be the best pictures in the world, but some of them are way better than others I have done. Hopefully I will start doing this more often but have someone other than James to be my model.

I went in for my interview with Apple and it seemed to go great! I received an email asking for information and permission to run a background check on me. I am thinking, along with my other co-workers, that that means I will have the job. We hear that it takes about a week after the background
check to hear anything. So, I am waiting.


P90X is going terrible. The past two weeks have been hard with schedule change and some other things that have come up. We are hoping to get back on track this week. We totally believe in the program but sometimes it is hard to fit anything into the odd hours that I am keeping these day. Shift change is happening the first week or so of November and I am hoping to have an 8-5 shift. Life seems to function better for me in that time frame. So, fingers crossed for the good shift so we can get back on track.

Shack

I have finally finished this book. I recommend this to everyone! I have done more in depth thinking about my life while reading this book then I think I have done in a VERY long time. I love the perspective. WOW is all I can really say.

PC for Apple

I finally got a call from Apple! I am going in for an interview on Tuesday the 14th. Pay raise, benefits, and a little job security! I did great during the phone screening and then the recruiter says "you will need to complete a typing test and listening test within 24 hrs on a Windows computer using IE." So in order for me to get a job at Apple I must use a Windows machine. I got the email this morning at 10 am that says " you have 24 hours to complete" and I say to myself, where am I going to find a Windows computer on the Apple campus? I figure that there are many machines that have XP installed using bootcamp so that we could learn how to do that, but no. There are only 3 machines anywhere that I could use and I don't really have full access to them because people are trouble shooting on them. So after I have walked the entire building looking for computers I finally give in and call my good friend Danielle and I will be able to use hers. She is the best! So tonight I will be using Windows machine and Internet Explorer to hopefully get my badge at Apple to do technical support. So odd!

Christmas in October

We went to the 7:00pm service at The Austin Stone Community Church tonight and it was fantastic. I was not a big fan to start with to be honest. It is a BIG church! Four services of which I am sure they are all as packed as the last service of the day. I have never done well with big churches. To many people for this small town girl! The time of worship (music) was okay, I didn't know the last songs they sang and they didn't do well teaching the song. Then on to the sermon. FANTASTIC! Matt Carter, the pastor, did such a great job. He did not just tell his congregation to go and be the church to the city, but told them the different ways that they could be. Ezra, Nehemiah, and Ester were the examples he gave. Which one are you he asks, then says go and do. Also, you know it is a good sermon when he has a point about Chick-fil-a and the chicken biscuit! At the end of the service they chose to sing 1 particular song that they felt summed up the sermon. Of all songs it was "Oh Holy Night," a Christmas song. I don't recall ever singing anything but the 1st verse, but this time we sang more. It is fantastic! I took the liberty of finding the lyrics on Wikipedia for those of you who have also never sang more than the 1st verse. Enjoy!

O Holy Night

Oh holy night! The stars are brightly shining,

It is the night of our dear Saviour's birth.

Long lay the world in sin and error pining,

Till He appear'd and the soul felt its worth.

A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angels' voices!

Oh night divine, Oh night when Christ was born;

Oh night divine, Oh night, Oh night Divine.

Led by the light of Faith serenely beaming,

With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.

So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming,

Here come the wise men from Orient land.

The King of Kings lay thus in lowly manger;

In all our trials born to be our friend.

He knows our need, to our weakness is no stranger,

Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend!

Behold your King, Behold your King.

Truly He taught us to love one another;

His law is love and His gospel is peace.

Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother;

And in His name all oppression shall cease.

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,

Let all within us praise His holy name.

Christ is the Lord! O praise His Name forever,

His power and glory evermore proclaim.

His power and glory evermore proclaim.

Hobby

What is a hobby? I told James he needed to get a hobby and so he started naming off items that could or could not be hobbies. I told him that he was wrong on most of what he said and told him to keep thinking.
hobby 1 |ˈhäbē|
noun ( pl. -bies)
1 an activity done regularly in one's leisure time for pleasure : her hobbies are reading and gardening.
Can a hobby be related to your job? Can a hobby turn into your job? Once your hobby has turned into your job can it still be a hobby?
Currently my hobby is photography. I do it in spurts these days. I would like to get serious about it again and getting another portfolio together. Honestly, I don't want to work Apple for forever and hope to have kids one day. I would stay home with them but would have to have income still. Photography could be a great way to do that. So my hobby would then turn job. Does that mean I would have to get a new hobby? Right now I don't have to worry about this question but I sure hope I will have to in the near future. Until then I will be brushing up my skills. Any suggestions for James?

Childhood Lessons

I have worked in daycare type of setting taking care of kids for most of my life. One of the lessons that I taught all my kids was to clean up after yourself. You have to clean up the room at the end of the day or throw away your snack stuff and clean the table before you can go play. I always wondered why this was so hard for kids to grasp. I apparently never took my own advise. I have realized in the past few days that I don't think that I really ever learned that lesson. My parents could tell you that I never cleaned my room as a kid. I usually just stuffed the laundry or toys under my bed. Once they got me to make my bed I would sleep on the top of the covers just to avoid making the bed the next morning. I think I learned to be cleaner when I moved to college because I was in such a small space with someone else. I did better but not much. When I moved into my own place by myself it was hard to really keep my new place real clean because no one ever saw it but James and I. I got into some real bad habits. Once we moved to Austin we have always said "this apartment will be different, we will keep it real clean." That has never happened! I decided this past week that the TIME IS NOW to start really keeping things real clean. I have struggled with putting things up once I got them out. I feel like a 2 year old having to sing that terrible song "Clean up, Clean up, everybody everywhere." Good song for a 2 year old but you would think that would be an easy habit to start back up. I hope I pick it back up....or start it soon! I wonder if there are any other lessons that I thought I learned but never did?

Slow Down and Think

I have realized this week that I just never stop. My schedule runs like this: Get up at 7:00 am, Workout at 8:00am, Shower, Breakfast at 10:30, Leave for work right after 11:00, Come home about 9:00, Finish working out, Bed. For the majority of the days of the week this is my schedule. I have just enough time to see James and that is about it. I finally made it to the end of Saturday which is the first night of my weekend! I did my workout and then I stopped. I took all day on Sunday to do things that I wanted to do. Most of them being unsuccessful but I did. I even made it out to Starbucks for a little reading and journaling. I have been missing out some joyful times by being so busy. Starting right now I am going to slow down. Stop and smell the roses every once in a while. Start enjoying life all over again!

Feeling Old

Tonight I feel old. I know that 25 isn't old, but my body feels old tonight after the plyo workout for P90X. I think I have felt every single jr. hight, high school, and college injury I ever had. There are two injuries from my past that are haunting me these days. The first is my left knee. I don't even remember when I started having issues with my knees because I was so young. I know that it came to a peak during a high school basketball games where I "jammed" my knee during a rebound. I ended up breaking a little piece of my knee cap off which they ended up cleaning up during a scope of my knee. They also did a little cutting and sewing of my tendons on the sides of my knee. I never really did all the rehab that I should have done and in turn I still have issues with my knee. The other is my right wrist. I don't really use my wrist in plyo but I do in almost all the other videos. I tore the triangle fiber cartilage doing who knows what at summer camp. It was not a problems that could be totally fixed so they did the best they could. I tweak it every once in a while and it hurts. I feel old because I have to reminisce about old injuries because I am now dealing with them all over again. I sure hope to feel young again after I finally gain some more muscle.

3 years and Counting

James and I recently celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary and I thought I would have a little fun with our rings. The summer before James proposed I was working at Hidden Falls Ranch as a camp counselor. I had the opportunity to hang out with some great people and do alot of great things. Just about every weekend we would go into Amarillo and go hang out. There was one other counselor that had a boyfriend that was steady at the time and they were thinking marriage, so we made several trips to the mall to do some ring shopping. James and I had just really started to get serious at the time so my mind was not on that train of thought , but looking sure was fun. I found a ring that was unique but it didn't have right cut of diamond that I wanted. After being away from each other all summer we decided that fall that this could be it. This relationship could be the one. We spent some time talking and looking at rings for fun. We couldn't decide on the same cut until we found the same ring that I had found that summer. The cut grew on me and I fell in love with it. When James went to go and buy the ring in Lubbock they did not have the ring in the right size. The store in Amarillo did have the ring in the right size and they said they had had the ring for quite a while. We think that I could very possibly have the same ring that I tried on in Amarillo before we were even thinking of marriage. Could be true, might not be. I would like to think so, kinda makes me thing even more that there was no better choice than James for my husband!

DNA Removal

Finally...the start of my weekend! It has been a long week on the phones for me. I think that I am finally settling back in to the role of phone agent. I must say that I miss my days of MobileMe chat support days. It is easy to take people yelling at you over chat than the phone. You can laugh at the people using ALL CAPS TO SHOW THEIR ANGER OVER NOTHING. It is harder to keep your calm on the phone and not take it personal.
On another note: P90X workouts are going well. We missed yoga and one ab workout. The other work outs are going great though. I started to use the bands for my pull ups which actually allows me to get a workout in. I didn't know that my muscles could be so sore in my back! I think that I am gaining muscle just about everywhere and hopefully losing some inches. I have been pouring sweat after every workout (dna removal as tony horton says) and that is making me feel like I am getting the hand of what he is asking of me.
As for my weekend: I hope to try a new church tomorrow. We haven't really been back to church since the JCB stopped playing there. It is time! I think that we will be going to Hill Country Bible Church but I am going to look into a little more before we head out tomorrow. I hear they do alot of church planting. I am very interested in the dynamic of the church plant. Maybe we can get involved with another plant in the coming days. Also looking forward to some good hang out time with James, we don't get much time together these days unless we are working out. I seem to say that alot.....maybe we should look at our priorities????

Losing!

I lost 4 pounds during the first week of P90X. It is better than gaining weight and I am pretty happy with that number. The second round of chest and back was real good. I started using the bands for my pull ups instead of using the pull up bar. I am getting a much better workout now! It also allows us to keep the pace up because we are not waiting on each other to finish. I was able to increase my push ups on all but the DiveBombers. Those are just hard! I have to gain some more muscle before I will be able to do those. I missed my morning workout today so I will be doing Plyometrics when I get home from work tonight. I am looking forward to seeing if I gained any muscle from last week.
We had a little bit of a carb heavy meal last night for the first time since we started. Neither James or I slept well and we felt terrible when we woke up. I am going to watch that from now on. I was sleeping so much better.

End of Week 1

Tomorrow is the end of week 1 of P90X. It has been good. The workouts are hard but I am enjoying the feel of sore muscles. It has been a while since I have felt all the muscles I have. The nutrition part of the plan is not what we were expecting. We are doing a very modified version of the meal plan. We are still going by the portions for the most part but changing some of the food choices. We will be getting on the scale tomorrow but I am not expecting any weight loss. In fact I am readying myself for some weight gain. From other blogs I have read that you don't start losing weight until after the first 3o days. You have to gain muscle before you lose weight.
I am glad we have started this! It has been good to work out again and to work out with James.

Creative Portraits

I took a self portrait by candle light and thought that it would be great to have a pictures of James as well. Sorry if this is too much skin for you! I think that James' is better but I got to be behind the camera for his and in front for mine with the self timer. I can't tell you how many times I blew that candle out!

Sore Muscles and Crazy Blenders

We have done 2 full videos and the ab video for P90X as of now. My muscles are sore but I am feeling pretty good. Tired but good. I am not used to having only protein. James and I were/are trying to do the meals just like they want you to, but have found that to be to much food and lots of prep time. The food so far looks good and has tasted okay. Our blender threw soup up all over the kitchen, so it is not a big fan of the food. We are going to look at the nutrition part a little more and see if we can make it fit our schedule and tastes a little more. This is going to be an interesting 90 days though.

Shopping & Day 0 Pictures

We went shopping for our new menu that goes along with P90X. I have never bought so much food in my life! I am not very familiar with the food that we will be eating. It is a lot of soup and fish. I will spend most of today chopping vegetables and making soup for the rest of the week. Not sure that is how I want to spend a day off but I think it will be worth it in the end.

On another note. We start the program today so we took our day 0 pictures last night. I am not going to be the brave sole that posts those pictures. I don't want to have to look at them until I can show some improvement. We have done the fit test and I passed everything but the pull ups. I can't do any pull ups. I was borderline on the abs but I think I will be just fine.

Off to chopping veggies........

First Post on New Blog

Starting my blogging days over again. It was just photos before. Hopefully I can put thoughts down, updates on life, and photos this time. I am going start a photo project soon and will have pictures up. The alphabet is my theme. James and I will be starting P90X in the next week and I hope to keep updates on here about that. Till next time.....