Tamara-Camera

Instagram February Photo a Day (Days #9, #10 & #11)

2012-02-14T13:19:00.002-05:00

Day #9, Front Porch - I lovelovelove our front porch! Day #10, Self Portrait - I totally forgot about this picture until I had taken my make-up off, thank gosh for Instragram's filters! lol.
Day #11, Makes Me Happy - He ALWAYS makes me happy but even more so when he is off on Saturday and will spend hours cleaning our house! I have never had to clean our stainless steel appliances in over 7 years and I hope to never have to!

Instagram February Photo a Day (Days #6, #7 & #8)

2012-02-14T13:10:00.005-05:00

Day #6, Dinner - I was feeling lazy and uninspired so I just threw together some chicken and spinach and opened a can of corn, it was good, easy-peasy and served it's purpose!

Day #7, Buttons - Call me spoiled but I LOVE my heated steering wheel in my Cadillac!

Day #8, Sun - I was pretty sure "sun"glasses were about the only sun I'd see that day!

Instagram February Photo a Day (Days #4 & #5)

2012-02-05T12:06:00.002-05:00

Day #4, A Stranger - Jim & I were out running errands and while we were getting our car cleaned (exterior and interior) we walked next door to Louie's and got pizza slices for lunch.

Day #5, 10am - I spent the morning lounging in my pajamas scrolling through Pinterest on the iPad. We had a surprise party for my sisters 40th birthday last night so this morning was a little rough seeing as that by 10am we had only been home 6 hours and I spent 7 hours on the dance floor in my heels last night! I feel like I've been ran over by a truck!

Instagram February Photo a Day Challenge

2012-02-03T18:15:00.004-05:00

I'm back ... again. I always have the best of intentions for this little blog of mine but I am horrible at keeping it updated, believe me I know this for a FACT.

I have decided to join the Instagram February Photo a Day Challenge. I figure it like this, I am ALWAYS close to my phone and I love Instagram so I'm going to give it a shot. I then decided (today) that I'd post my photos to my blog, I think it will be easy enough to post ONE photo here on a daily basis, right? I just found it too hard to keep up on here with long posts with lots of pictures so I'm hoping this is a way for me to keep the blog around or else I'm just going to go ahead and delete it like I've thought about doing a million times.

I'll catch you up to day #3 and then from here on out will post one photo per day for the month, we'll shall see if I can make it until the end!

Day #1, My View - I had a day off work and enjoyed being home during the day.

Day #2, Words - I love seeing this statement.

Day #3, Hands - The hands of my gorgeous Michael Kors watch (Christmas gift from the hubs)

{ Stowe, VT ~ Road Trip Stop #1 }

2011-11-11T11:21:00.008-05:00

I know I have totally neglected this blog for the last 7 months, but I'm back! To be honest, I got into a funk about the whole blogging thing and it wasn't enjoyable to me anymore so I took some time off, although I never intended for it to be this long! I was still reading and enjoying all of my favorite (yep, all 500 of them) blogs but I didn't want to blog myself. I'm hoping to get back to posting on a regular basis and hope that I still have some friends and followers who even want to read what I have to say!

In early October we went on a New England road trip, it was a beautiful 12 days spent together exploring parts of our beautiful country that neither of us had been to before. We drove to New York and took the ferry to Vermont and then made our way to our first stop, Stowe. This was Jim's favorite stop on our trip, he just fell in love with the mountains of Vermont.

an old barn along the road

on the ferry, checking out the views

Vermont from the ferry

We stayed at Stowe Mountain Lodge

I belong here!
Breakfast at the Lodge

The beauty of Stowe below...

The start of my "Milk & Cookies" addiction

{ Easter & Pottery Barn Mirror }

2011-04-18T18:24:00.004-04:00

I wanted to get pictures of my Easter decor and crafts this past weekend but have been sick with bronchitis and pneumonia for the last 8 days! I'm still pretty down and out but before Easter was over I wanted to at least put a picture of my mantel on the blog. This is also the first time you'll be seeing our new amazing Pottery Barn Eagan Multipanel Mirror, I lusted over this piece for months and months before I decided to bite the bullet and pay the outrageous price that PB was asking, and I tell you what, I don't regret it one bit, this is an amazing addition to our home.

{ Lil' Wayne/Nicki Minaj Concert }

2011-04-09T08:20:00.004-04:00

Last Saturday we were able to enjoy the Lil' Wayne & Nicki Minaj concert from a suite, we had such a good time. I have to laugh when I look at these pictures, it looks like we had the entire suite to ourselves (us, my bro and sis) but that wasn't the case, there was 22 of us total.

Sisters & Brother

We ended the night at Boston's, a gourmet pizza place/bar. Cheers!

{ Vacation: Cruise }

2011-04-03T13:17:00.012-04:00

We had the best time on our vacation, I would have loved for it to never end! We had such great weather the entire time and made lots of memories with our friends and family that we were able to vacation with this time around. Our first stop was in Clearwater, FL to visit friends of ours that moved down there about 6 months ago, they have such a beautiful new home and tried to convince us to move down there with them, it almost worked!

After spending a day with them we headed to Miami to board our cruise, we went on the Carnival Liberty, and visited St. Thomas, San Juan and Grand Turk. We were supposed to also visit Half Moon Cay, Bahamas but due to an unforeseen and unfortunate medical occurrence on the first day we had to turn back around to Miami and that caused us to miss the first port, such a bummer for us, but rumors were that someone lost their life so it's hard to be upset by something like that.

San Juan, Puerto Rico. We spent the day walking around the beautiful city.

St. Thomas, we visited Magens Bay beach and walked around town, it was gorgeous! Grand Turk was AMAZING!! The water was stunning and the locals were so friendly. Our home for 7 amazing days

Our view as we left port in Miami and returned 7 days later..

I spent a lot of time our all balcony reading my Nook and listening the the sounds of the ocean, so peaceful.

We sure weren't ready to leave the life of luxury to return to reality, but like all good vacations they have to come to an end ... until the start of the next one!

{ Shellac, Day 15 }

2011-03-31T21:03:00.002-04:00

My Shellac manicure gets a thumbs up from me! This picture was just taken, 15 days after application and the polish is still perfect. My nails survived our vacation, which included lots of time in the water and also being back to work for almost a week, which means a lot of typing!

{ Shellac Mani }

2011-03-17T06:39:00.002-04:00

Have you heard of and/or tried a Shellac manicure? I recently had this type of mani come into my radar and knew I had to try it asap, a no chip 14 day manicure would be one of the best inventions ever in my book! Luckily for me, I have a family member that does nails and who is offering this service out of her home for a bit cheaper than the salons, since they are more costly than a standard manicure. I decided the perfect time to try it out would be right before we leave for our cruise, I would LOVE polish that lasted the entire vacation. I swear, last year we left Michigan on Thursday and by the time we boarded the ship on Saturday I was taking off my polish because it was already all messed up.

I am amazed at how shiny and smooth the polish looks once it's applied, even when I got home and showed Jim his first response was "wow, they are shiny". I loved that there was no dry time, it was awesome to be able to be done with the polish in one second and the next second not have to worry about smudges. I've read nothing but great things about the Shellac manicure and have heard all positive reviews, so I am hopeful that I will also have a positive experience. I generally cannot go 3 days without my polish looking terrible, so I will be thrilled if it lasts 7+ days without chipping, and I'm also told the shine doesn't go away, so *fingers crossed* that I have a good experience.

As I mentioned earlier we are going on a cruise, we depart from Miami on Saturday and will stop at Half Moon Cay Bahamas, St. Thomas, San Juan and Grand Turk. I'm really excited to get away from reality and live the life of luxury for the next 10 days, we leave home later today.

Shellac, 10 hours after application

{ Happy Valentine's Day }

2011-02-14T06:20:00.004-05:00

Whether you celebrate today or not, I hope each and every one of you has a good day, it is a Monday after all, the start of another work week for most of us!

We generally don't make a big deal out of this holiday, sure we will spend the evening together after work but we will have dinner at home and there will be no gifts, or at least I didn't buy him one, lol. Speaking of gifts his birthday is Friday and am I so excited to give him his gift, it will be in the top 5 gifts I've ever bought him and he has NO idea!

I made a cupcake liner ball late last night, I was bored and had some liners left from my wreath and it didn't take me very long at all, I added it to the mantel. The banner I ordered from Etsy never did show up, which is a bummer because it would have looked so great hanging there.

{ Valentine's Day Decorations }

2011-02-09T18:32:00.003-05:00

I also ordered an adorable banner but it seems to be lost in transit, I figure it will show up on February 15th with my luck!

Can you believe I cannot find pink taper candles anywhere, so here is my cute alternative.

Adorable free subway art from the awesome girls at Eighteen25

I have these cute plates on a 2-tier stand in the kitchen

And, of course my cupcake liner wreath

{ Valentine's Day Wreath }

2011-02-05T14:21:00.005-05:00

I spent a couple hours this afternoon making this adorable cupcake liner wreath and I'm in love with the way it turned out. I used the tutorial off of this amazing blog, Tatertots and Jello.

One of my resolutions this year was to actually start doing crafts, instead of always talking about doing them. I would say that 90% of the time I stop myself from trying something I see because I tell myself that whatever I make will not be as good or cute as the one I've based my inspiration off of. Well, I'm happy to report that I do in fact think I did a great job on this wreath. On another note, doing crafts helps with one of my other resolutions and that is to allow myself to relax more and not feel guilty about it, so another point for me.

I can't wait to share my other Valentine's decor, I'm awaiting an adorable banner that I ordered two weeks ago, the seller shipped it right away but it seems as if it's been "lost" in the mail thus far, tracking shows it's been in Phoenix since 1/22/11, so I'm really hoping it shows up soon.

I started with an 8" styrofoam wreath, ribbon, cupcake liners and hot glue.

Here is the covered wreath and liners, though I ended up leaving out purple.
I started in little sections and just kept turing the wreath and adding more until it was full, after the liners were complete I added some cute little heart stickers and called it complete.

{ Believe }

2010-12-25T01:14:00.007-05:00

Here is the rest of my Christmas decor posts, I did realize I forgot to photograph a few things but no biggie, you get the idea and can see that I go overboard! This is sort of off topic but we are currently in the market for a mirror to go above our fireplace (maybe Santa will have brought me this one), I just think our mantel would have looked so much better with a gorgeous mirror hanging above it.

{ North Pole Village }

2010-12-19T20:04:00.010-05:00

My second Christmas decor post is about my village, I collect and love the Department 56 North Pole Series. My obsession with this started because of my husband (then boyfriend), for our first Christmas together (in '98) he bought me my first piece and ever since then I've been hooked! I have over 40 of the houses/buildings and too many accessories to count, and until our basement is finished and I can decorate down there I don't have room for them all. I display them under our tree, and in our foyer and great room mostly, but have a few random pieces that I prefer to showcase alone as you will see in the pictures. As I was editing this post I realized I didn't take any pictures of the houses under the tree and honestly I am too lazy to start over!

{ O Christmas Tree }

2010-12-19T18:07:00.007-05:00

I admit that I am one of those people who upon taking down the Halloween decorations immediately starts decorating for Christmas, I can't help it, I get too excited to wait! Our Christmas tree brings so much peace and joy into our home during the holidays, it's pains me to take it down when all is said and done. I love each and every ornament on this tree for a different reason, but of course I couldn't photograph all of them so here are some highlights. I do have 3 other mini trees that I decorate with extra special ornaments that I will post pictures of throughout the week, along with all the other decor, there is just so much!

{ Happy Birthday to Me }

2010-11-15T17:42:00.006-05:00

My 31st birthday was this past Saturday November 13th, it's always so nice when your birthday falls on a weekend, don't you agree? Not to mention that we had a beautiful day here in Michigan, which is rare on my birthday! I had made a comment that it's never been this nice on my birthday and Jim corrected me by telling me last years weather was way better, well he's technically right seeing as we spent my 30th birthday last year on vacation in Disney World.

Jim & I started the day off spending quality time together doing some shopping (including Ikea) and afterwards enjoyed a wonderful lunch at The Melting Pot, I swear there is nothing like their dessert. In the evening we celebrated by getting together with friends and family at Dave and Busters, which I chose because it's a fun place for adults and children. I am really blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life and am blessed to have celebrated another year of this beautiful thing we call life.

The only pictures I have to share are a couple that I snapped with my phone while having dessert at Melting Pot, if you've never had their dessert you should make a point to go there soon!

Hmm.. what to have first?

A brownie it is... dipped in Smores chocolate!

{ Game Day }

2010-11-12T14:28:00.006-05:00

We've been Detroit Lions season ticket holders for 12 years (prior to our relationship Jim was a season ticket holder for a number of years also), it's something we both love and enjoy doing together. This past Sunday we had two extra tickets to the game so Jim decided to surprise me (or at least try to) and invite my best friend Amy and my little sister Jamie to join us. The Lions ended up losing the game to the Jets in OT, but we still had a blast and here are the pictures to prove it. The first picture here with our mascot Roary was the last picture we took and it was on our way out of the game after the loss, but we are smiling BIG because we've waited 12 years to get a picture with Roary!

Yes, we bought matching shirts at the game

{ Trick or Treat }

2010-11-10T09:07:00.008-05:00

It has become a fun tradition for us to host a small party on Halloween for our family and friends. This year I dressed up and walked with all the little ones as they went door to door, and although it was cold we had a great time. I'm disappointed that I didn't get pictures of all our guests that stopped by throughout the night, but it was a busy evening in our house!

Sheriff Tamara

Scarecrow, my Mom Punky Brewster, my niece Erin

Lil' Red Riding Hood, my sister Jamie

Wolverine, my nephew Nicholas

Jamie & her Superhero Son

Jamie, Mom, Me

Jim & Audrey (aka Lil' Miss Serious)

The Lions finally have a cheerleader!

My friend Amy & her boys (Jayden & Christian)

The start of ToT'ing ~ Amy with her 3 kids + Nicholas

By the end of the night Audrey insisted on walking herself!

{ Halloween Decorations }

2010-10-13T06:55:00.009-04:00

I took a day off of work a couple weeks ago and spent the day decorating for Halloween and since I haven't updated my blog in a while I figured this would be the perfect time. I love everything about decorating for holidays, in my opinion a festive home is a happy home. I apologize for the amount of pictures but I wanted you to have a full look at the main areas of our home and how we choose to celebrate our home this holiday. *Please note, I promise this all looks better in person, I do not feel like these pictures do the decorations justice, they look much better when it's dark or dusk and they are all light up and flickering away!

My last name may have changed but I'll always be a "Jones"....

{ Welcome to Detroit City }

2010-09-11T18:50:00.007-04:00

Eminem and Jay-Z kicked off their "Home to Home" tour on Thursday September 2nd and I was there to witness the brilliance! Considering there are only 4 concerts total in this tour (2 in Detroit, 2 in New York) and these are two of the biggest selling rappers of all time I cannot tell you how excited I was to be able to attend on opening night. The concert was held in downtown Detroit at Comeria Park and they said they were going to do it big and indeed they did it BIG!

There had been lots of speculation about special guests that would join them on stage and there were a lot of them - starting with B.o.B who opened the show, they were joined by 50 Cent, Drake, Young Jeezy, Lloyd Banks, Trick-Trick, D12, Tony Yayo, G-Unit, Memphis Bleek and none other the doctor himself, Dr. Dre who along with Em performed their own rendition of the old school rap "Nothin' but a G Thang", which totally brought me back to my teenage years!

I was literally on my feet 95% of the time from 7:30-12:30 and LOVED every minute of it, I danced and sang my heart out. The entire night was amazing, the vibe of 40,000+ people in the Motor City was one to be proud of, everyone was definitely in a Detroit state of mind. The night started out pretty darn hot and sticky, I spent at hour fixing my hair just to have it pulled back in a pony before the show even started, talk about annoying! However, after the sun went down the night was perfect, the city lights in the background and the ballpark rockin', it was awesome! I didn't take the following day off of work and boy was that a mistake, I don't know how I functioned on such little sleep for the 8-hour work day that followed, but I would do it again in a heartbeat.

George & Jamie (my sister), me and Jim

Sisters

Just a few pics of the stage

{ August 27, 2010 = 6 Years }

2010-08-29T18:23:00.007-04:00

My sisters and mom

My new family (Jim's parents and sisters)Jim's new family (my parents & siblings)

The design on the cake matched my dress!

The dance floor was packed all night long!

{ I'm Alive }

2010-08-29T17:50:00.006-04:00

I can't even believe it's been well over a month since I last posted in this blog. To be honest, I was waiting for someone to ask what happened to me and that happened today (thanks Candice @ http://www.wolfsonsafari.blogspot.com/ ), no I'm kidding, I just have been seriously lacking the blogging motivation bug this summer.

I feel like the months of July and August have passed with the blink of an eye, the work weeks have been going fast and the weekends even faster. It's always nice to be busy and have lots of social activities to keep me (us) entertained, but that also is the main reason the time is going by too darn fast. I am looking forward to things slowing down a bit this fall before the mad rush of holiday celebrations and the winter weather arrives.

Back in July we spent a day in Grand Bend, Ontario, which is only about 90 miles from our house. Jim's family always vacationed here in the summer growing up so it holds a special place in his heart and we try to make it at least once a year. There is still a large number of friends of ours that do spend a week here (but it usually coincides with our West Virgina vacation and we choose that first), so we got to spend a day with them this year and it was nice. After dinner with our friends we decided to take a quiet walk on the beach and watch the sun set before heading home, here are just a couple of pics we snapped.

{ Photo Booth Fun }

2010-07-19T19:54:00.002-04:00

Our nephew had a photo booth at his graduation party and we got these fun photos, such a great idea for a party! I wanted to wait to post these until I had the ones that my sis-in-law has been promising to scan and email to me but I haven't got them yet and it's been a month so if and when I get them I will post them (they are really fun ones of myself and Jim's two sisters).

{ I got the Sunshine Award }

2010-07-15T08:49:00.002-04:00

Sarah over at Life Uncommon (http://sweetcakesxo.blogspot.com/) nominated me for the Sunshine Award.

1. Thank the blogger who gave it to you
- Thanks Sarah, I always love reading your blog and about your beautiful family!
2. List 7 things that people may not know about you
3. Pass the love to 5 deserving bloggers that you have discovered recently and let them know you gave them the award. (Psss, this number was at 15 but I changed it to 5 since Sarah who gave it to me only gave out 5 and it's easier that way, lol).

1. I turned 30 this past November
2. My husband turned 40 this past February
3. I have 2 sisters and 3 brothers
4. I've worked at my current job since '95 (I started as a co-op student in 10th grade), so I've basically worked here half of my life!
5. I have terrible eye sight and wear extended wear contact lenses all the time, I ONLY take them out when it's time to change into a new pair every 6-8 weeks.
6. I have very neat handwriting and get complimented (mostly by strangers) often about it.
7. I am pretty fearless when it comes to most adventure type things and I want to skydive.

Here are the bloggers that I'm passing this award onto, they are blogs that I've discovered in the past months and have enjoyed following.

1. Tammy, Matter of Fact http://tammy-nelson.blogspot.com/
2. Kelly & Sara, Peace Love Taco Bell http://peace-love-tbell.blogspot.com/
3. Mere, Idle Banter http://beancounteridlechatter.blogspot.com/
4. E, Beauty in the Attempt http://beautyintheattempt.blogspot.com/
5. Amanda, Bagel & Cream Cheese http://mrskeith2b.blogspot.com

{ Take Me Home Country Roads }

2010-07-14T20:01:00.016-04:00

We spent the early days of July on vacation in the mountains of West Virginia with Jim's extended family. This is an annual vacation that I've been a part of since back in '98 and we look forward to spending the week of the 4th of July there each and every year. The weather was unusually hot there this year so we spent a lot of time in the pool cooling off, we also spent a lot of time relaxing and hanging out with family members from near and far. We got to spend a lot of quality time with Jim's niece and nephew along with my little brother, as we helped play the role of their "parents" on this trip (none of their parents were there so they came with my in-laws and us) and we loved having the time with them. I'm mad at myself for this now that I'm home but while on the trip I wasn't very inspired to take pictures, I think it was a combination of the heat, the time we spent doing "nothing" and the time we spent doing the same things we do each and every year that I wasn't excited about photography and now looking back there is so much that I missed and will miss because I didn't feel like taking pictures. Here are some photos that I did manage to capture during our 9 day stay.

Canaan Valley Fire DepartmentGorgeous View Lead Mine, WVMe and JimMy kids for the week (nephew Jacob, brother Jared, niece Kerstyn) and YES I'm short!Swinging Bridge

The kids went on a treasure hunt, here are two of the lil' minersChief Minor in charge of safety and photography (it was dark and about 120 degrees down there)!The boy miners, they loved it!

I attempted firework photos, most were a big fat FAIL, this one is sort of cool.Family Football I purchased a waterproof case for my P&S camera earlier this year and I LOVE it! The kids really got a kick out of taking pics underwater with a real camera and being able to review them so I let them have at it and within a week we had over 500 pictures of us at the pool, but that's where we spent a lot of our time so it's only right that is where most of the pictures are! If you're interested this is the case I purchased, it's awesome and my Sony P&S is very well protected in there, not a drop of water got on it and it was submerged a lot! http://www.dicapac.com/I give this vacation two thumbs up!

{ Picture Perfect Sunset }

2010-06-26T14:28:00.004-04:00

We celebrated our nephews high school graduation last weekend and his party was held on the lake where we got to enjoy the most amazing sunset. I think a sunset like this every evening of my life would be the perfect ending to each day. These photos are all SOOC (straight out of the camera/no editing).

{ Leap Brother }

2010-06-19T09:43:00.005-04:00

It always impresses me that my little brother Charles can do some really cool tricks on the trampoline, on a skateboard or just in general, I wish I had some talent (heck, at this age I'd take ANY talent). We took this series of pictures last weekend that show just how high this white man can jump, he's jumping over myself and our little brother Jared, and he makes it look easy!

{ I'm a Winner }

2010-06-09T18:42:00.002-04:00

I recently won this beautiful bracelet in a blog giveaway from one of my favorite fashion bloggers, The Budget Babe (http://www.thebudgetbabe.com/). I couldn't believe out of 182 entries that I had won, especially because it was such a beautiful prize to win! The bracelet is the Bardot Spiral Bangle by Stella & Dot and I love it, I've already worn it and I've only had it a week! I'm so glad to have this beauty to add to my jewelry collection, so I give the Budget Babe and Stella & Dot stylist Jenny Ratkovich a huge THANK YOU!

If you're not a follower of The Budget Babe become one by visiting their site which I've linked above and also you can check out all the other wonderful items Stella & Dot has to offer by visiting www.stelladot.com/sites/jennyrat/my-business.

{ Dinosaur Suckers }

2010-06-05T08:35:00.003-04:00

I spent my evening yesterday making these for my nephew Nicholas' 5th birthday party which is later this afternoon.

Chocolate Dinosaur Suckers

{ I Raced For A Cure }

2010-05-25T21:02:00.004-04:00

On Saturday I, along with almost 30,000 other people gathered in downtown Detroit to participate in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. It was a truly amazing experience to be surrounded by that many people gathered together with motivation to fight for the same cause. I had never run a 5K before and to be honest I'm not a runner, back in February I started to do the c25k program but I only made it to the fourth week so I was nervous about how I'd do on this race. My sister Tina, niece Megan and myself decided to join the runners at the front of the line and try our best to run it, and we did do good, we jogged and fast-walked to finish in 38.03. I'm proud of myself for taking part in this cause and finishing my first 5K race.

Tina, Megan & Me

Cousin Kelly & MeTina, Aimee, Me & SURVIVOR Doreen

Pink Ribbon Panera Bagel

{ Waving the White Flag }

2010-05-23T21:52:00.002-04:00

I'm officially waving the white flag on the T365 project. It sounded like a great idea in the beginning and I did enjoy it for the 40 days that I did do it, but I just have to be honest and say that I can't keep it up! I'm still going to update this blog on a regular basis and it will continue to be my photo blog, so please keep following me, I'm really enjoying being a part of the blogger world. In other words, T365 1 and Me 0!

{ Cupcake Pebbles - T365 #40 }

2010-05-19T19:33:00.003-04:00

Are you kidding me, CUPCAKE PEBBLES! I went grocery shopping after work today and somewhere about aisle #7 something happened, it was as if my prayers had been answered as I laid my eyes upon a cereal box, this cereal box! I actually ran into one of my good friends mere seconds after jumping for joy over this treasure I found and I believe what I said to her was "OMG, you have to see this, OMG have you seen anything this cute in your entire life". I know, it's ridiculous but I love cupcakes and I love cereal even more so cereal that taste like cupcakes is a dream come true! Of course reality soon hit, reality that I told Jim I was making a surprise dinner for him, and believe me the thought of serving a big bowl of these for dinner did cross my mind, after all it would have been a big surprise! After dinner I decided I'd do a little taste test for dessert and I couldn't believe my nose as I opened the box, for a minute I actually thought I was in a bakery, the aroma was delicious. The taste does not let down either, it's like a million tiny cupcakes with the perfect blend of yellow cake and vanilla frosting exploding into your tastebuds, oh how perfect. I cannot wait to make Cupcake Pebble Treats (like Rice Krispy Treats, but I'm sure better), in fact I'm pretty bummed we don't have marshmallows on hand here at home because you better believe I'd be making them now!

I'm just as excited as Pebbles and BamBam!

{ Pizza Tuesday - T365 #39 }

2010-05-18T19:03:00.005-04:00

On Tuesdays I tend to look forward to dinner all day because it's "Pizza Tuesday"! I could eat pizza daily and not ever get sick of it but Jim couldn't, so our compromise is once a week and it happens to be a tradition for it to be on Tuesday. I know some would think I'm crazy but I prefer plain cheese pizza so I pick off my pepperoni and give them to Jim since he likes extra. The next best thing are the leftovers that I get to take for lunch tomorrow!

{ Lilac Tree - T365 #38 }

2010-05-17T19:57:00.005-04:00

I spent some time at my in-laws house this evening so my picture of the day is of a lilac tree in their yard. It's such a beautiful tree in full bloom and the smell is just delightful and intense. We are going to do some landscaping in our yard and a lilac tree is on the list, although I know it's late spring already I can enjoy it for many years to come, the thought of reading on the patio with that sweet smell in the background sounds wonderful!

{ Aperture - T365 #37 }

2010-05-16T18:11:00.008-04:00

I will be the first to admit that there is so much about my camera (Canon Rebel T1i) that I don't understand, it's just so intimidating. I've decided to participate in an online photo course called "12 Weeks to Better Photography" by Two Peas in a Bucket, thanks to a few friends that also were up for the challenge and have helped motivate me. I completed the first weeks assignment today which was all about exploring aperture by taking three photos of the same subject with various apertures, showing the different depth of fields as the aperture changed. As you can see in the photos the lower the number the less in focus the photo will be and as the number gets higher more of the background will come into focus. I'm really hoping my friends who are also doing this challenge are proud of me when they see these photos as they all took great photos early in the week and I waited until Sunday evening, not to mention the few overachievers that already did the second week (yeah, I'm talking to you, you know who you are).

Week #1 ~ http://is7.twopeasinabucket.com/photocourse/weekone.pdf

{ Metro Girl - T365 #36 }

2010-05-16T08:52:00.003-04:00

Gasp! I didn't do a T365 post yesterday! We didn't have any specific plans for the day which is very unusual for us, we are usually rushing from here to there on the weekends, so while Jim did some house maintenance I spent the majority of the day reading on the back patio in the sunshine, it was lovely. (NOTE: I wasn't entirely lazy, I did do some laundry and light cleaning, went out to dinner and spent the evening over one of my best friends house chatting and eating way too many chocolate chip cookies, thanks Tina).

I recently went through my books to do some cleaning out and organizing and found that I have 42 unread books, because I tend to buy them when I see them on sale for prices I can't pass up. I've made a commitment to myself that I will read all these books before purchasing anymore, as I've had some of them for YEARS and still haven't read them!

I started this book in the morning yesterday and didn't know what to expect because I've never read any books by her, but I must have really liked it because not only did I start it yesterday but I also finished it (okay, it was 12:03 am when I finished it, but still). I loved that it was action-packed but also filled with humor, I did laugh out loud a few times, so that was a good sign. I will definitely be picking up other books by her, that is as soon as I read the other 41 books in the pile!

I also have recently started using GoodReads on a regular basis to track all my reading, so if you're a member please add me and let me know you're coming from my blog. I really enjoy seeing what other people are reading and recommending, I generally read mystery and chick-lit but I'm open to read just about anything and would like to get some more heavy reads in. The link to my profile is www.goodreads.com/tamarajean.

{ Smoothie - T365 #35 }

2010-05-14T21:18:00.002-04:00

I made myself a strawberry-banana smoothie to enjoy this evening, its healthy AND delicious! I generally try to drink a smoothie per day and it's always the same flavor, in my Bella Cucina Rocket Blender I add strawberries, a banana, some crushed ice and milk and mix it all together to create this delicious treat.

{ Thoughts & Prayers - T365 #34 }

2010-05-13T19:28:00.006-04:00

My thoughts and prayers are with one of my best friends and her husband, as it has been one year since they had to say hello and goodbye to their baby boy.

{ Jigsaw Puzzle - T365 #33 }

2010-05-12T19:34:00.004-04:00

I love putting together jigsaw puzzles and have since I was a little girl, I will forever cherish the countless hours I spent in the basement doing a puzzle with my dad and siblings or the days we spent over my late grandmothers doing puzzles (she was always working on a puzzle). This past Sunday we had our families over to celebrate Mother's Day and instead of playing games like we normally do when we are all together I suggested making a puzzle. Unlike the days growing up where we couldn't go to bed until the puzzle was complete our guests had to leave it incomplete as everyone had to get home for work or school the following morning. Although I didn't get to finish this puzzle with my dad, I finished it with Jim and he let me put the last piece in. If anyone else is a fan of puzzles AND football this is a great one to put together that features fun NFL and Superbowl items.

Springbok "Fantasy Football" 1000 pieces

http://www.springbok-puzzles.com/store/store.php/products/football-fantasy

{ Painting - T365 #32 }

2010-05-11T20:50:00.002-04:00

In conversation with Jim last night I mentioned I wanted him to paint the upstairs hallway so I could print and frame some of my tulip pictures (see previous blog post). Well, he listened and started painting as soon as he got home from work today in hopes to have it done before I got home a little while later. I was glad to "catch" him in the act because I got this photo just as he was finishing up. I'm looking at the finished product now and it looks wonderful, we painted the main floor and foyer this color a couple months ago and knew we wanted to extend it to the upstairs hallway.

Sand Trap by Sherwin Williams

{ Tulip Time in Holland, MI }

2010-05-10T20:48:00.007-04:00

Last week I spent a wonderful day in Holland, Michigan for their annual Tulip Time Festival with my mom, mother-in-law and grandma. We visited Windmill Island, home to the 248-year Dutch Windmill "De Zwaan" (meaning graceful bird) that was shipped from the Netherlands in 1964. We got the opportunity to take a tour of the windmill and learned that it is the only authentic working windmill in the United States. During the tour we got to see it actually working, and got to meet the miller, the first Dutch-certified miller in America and the only female master miller in the world. We spent the rest of the day walking around the town and shopping at the cute little stores, admiring all the beautiful flowers and we had dinner before heading back home. Here are a few of the photo highlights I thought I'd share, I'm absolutely in love with the dark purple Tulip "Queen of the Night", they were just amazing in person.

Click Photo Collages To Enlarge!

{ Spectacles - T365 #31 }

2010-05-10T20:10:00.004-04:00

I am not blessed with good vision, in fact my eyesight is pretty terrible. Generally I wear contacts 100% of the time, I wear the Night & Day disposable style that allows for up to 30 days of continuous wear and I love them. I hate everything about having to wear glasses and haven't taken mine out of the case in well over a year, until yesterday. I have an eye infection and had to resort to wearing my glasses, I wore them all day yesterday and today and will probably continue for a few days. It's funny because when I do wear my glasses I get comments from people that have known me for years saying they didn't know I wore glasses. I've debated many times about having laser surgery done but the bottom line is that I'm a big chicken, I'm scared to death at the thought of having unnecessary surgery. It wasn't easy trying to take a picture of something that I couldn't see, that's for sure!

Eyeglasses: Clearing things up since the first century...

{ Chocolate Chip Brownies - T365 #30 }

2010-05-09T22:40:00.004-04:00

We had our families (well, some of them) over to celebrate Mother's Day today, it was a nice day. I did some preparing this morning and of course had to make one of our favorites - Chocolate Chip Brownies, yum! I got this recipe off of a blog over a year ago and have made it for every celebration we've had since, it's a fan favorite for sure. Of course I took the picture of it in my favorite state, uncooked and raw! To make this all you need are three things - your favorite brownie recipe, your favorite chocolate chip recipe and your favorite chocolate/fudge frosting. You follow the directions and basically as you can see in the picture pour the brownie mix into an appropriate pan and scoop the chocolate chip cookie dough into it with no rhyme or reason, it does not have to be perfect, then bake as directed and frost. Believe me, you will NOT be disappointed! (Psss, you can make these with Betty Crocker boxed brownie and cookie mix and they will be just as good).

{ Blue-Gray Sky - T365 #29 }

2010-05-08T20:25:00.003-04:00

Today is our nephew Jacob's 10th birthday and his party was cancelled due to the flu, so instead I spent the entire day cleaning and organizing things here at home. I wanted to take my photo for the day outside with the natural light but as I stepped outside I realized a better picture for today would be of the sky because it was so different depending if I was looking right or left. The photo on the right is if I looked to the right, blue skies and just traces of clouds and the photo on the left is if I looked left, just a bunch of clouds shielding the little light left of the day, both photos are sooc (straight out of the camera).

{ Cupcakes - T365 #28 }

2010-05-07T22:52:00.004-04:00

I met up with my girlfriends Amy, Rena & Shelly this evening at the mall for dinner and retail therapy. I stocked up on my Lush Bath Bombs, got a pretty necklace and some make-up at Mac. Before we left the mall we stopped at a cupcake bakery "Just Baked" and I picked up these two cupcakes to bring home, the two flavors are Samoa (hello, a cupcake that taste like my favorite girl scout cookies, yum) and S'more (hello, graham crackers, marshmallows AND chocolate, yum). I'm just really hoping they will taste as good as they look, but I won't know that until tomorrow since it's way too late for dessert!

Yeah, I'm at the gym at 6am for a reason!

{ Lush Bath Bomb - T365 #27 }

2010-05-07T06:45:00.004-04:00

After work yesterday I wasn't feeling very well, I had a terrible migraine and generally am not able to sleep them off because I can't fall asleep if it's light outside. So, I decided I needed a nice long hot bath in the jacuzzi tub, and my baths are not complete without a book and a Lush Bath Bomb. I discovered the Lush products years ago in Chicago (before we had them available in stores in Michigan) and have loved them since. I love the way they make the bath water a pretty color and the scent they give off. My husband got home from work and right away knew I took a bath because the fragrance lingers through the entire house, in fact sitting here in our great room this morning typing this I can still smell it, yum! (BTW, I didn't post this last night because the migraine never went away and I just didn't have the energy to do anything).

{ Cinco de Mayo - T365 #26 }

2010-05-05T18:08:00.002-04:00

I got this sombrero last year while in Cozumel, Mexico and thought that it would be the perfect item to photograph for my picture of the day in honor of Cinco de Mayo!

{ I went to Holland - T365 #25 }

2010-05-04T22:27:00.004-04:00

Today I spent the day in Holland .... Holland, Michigan that is! I took the day off work and went with my mom, mother-in-law and grandma to the annual Tulip Time Festival. Although it was an almost three hour drive each way I think it was a great day to spend the day. I will do another blog post with some pictures of all the gorgeous Tulips we got to see but for right now I need to get ready for bed so I leave you with these wooden shoes.

{ Spring Storms - T365 #24 }

2010-05-03T20:23:00.007-04:00

We've had our share of rain these past few days and the storms have been wicked. Although the sun was out all day today, we still managed to get hit with a rain storm this evening. Here is a picture I took of the tree in our front yard as the storm was at it's worst, the winds were howling and the rain was coming down hard.

{ Placemat Obsession - T365 #23 }

2010-05-02T20:20:00.005-04:00

It's Sunday evening and another weekend is coming to an end, we spent the entire day doing projects around the house. As I was cleaning up from dinner I decided a picture of my placemat would be a good photo of the day. I have an obsession with buying pretty placemats and NOT using them, seriously, I keep them all tucked away in the drawer for fear that they will get ruined. I was organizing the drawer with all of them the other day and decided it was time to start using these since I purchased them well over a year ago and they had yet to be displayed on the table. I figured it would be best to get some use out of them while I still thought they were pretty.

They are reversible with stripes on the other side.

{ Onion Volcano - T365 #22 }

2010-05-01T22:17:00.003-04:00

Phew, I'm glad to be home in my pajamas writing this entry after the busy and long day I had today. It started with working this morning, then we spent the afternoon at our friends house celebrating their daughters first birthday, and finally we met up with another couple for dinner. We went to Osaka Japanese Steakhouse, which is probably Jim's favorite place to have dinner, except I don't love it so generally we don't go unless we go with a group of friends. We had a really nice time, there really is nothing like spending time with good friends and having good conversation. I forgot my good camera at home today (bummer), but here is a quick picture I snapped with my P&S while at Osaka.

Flaming Onion Volcano

{ Andiamo - T365 #21 }

2010-04-30T22:19:00.003-04:00

I went out to dinner with my friend Rena tonight and took this picture of the sign at the restaurant. Prior to dinner we attended a fundraiser at a local boutique to support the Optimist International, where I got myself a really cute bracelet. Our dinner was quite funny, the waiter spent 10 minutes telling us about the specials and then refused to let us order them, it's a long story that I won't bore you with but finally the manager got involved and we were able to order our dinners, which were delicious.

{ S is for Snail & Support - T365 #20 }

2010-04-29T17:50:00.004-04:00

I am always happy to support a family member or friend when they are raising money for a good cause that is important to them. I received an email with a flyer full of pictures of these beautiful hand-painted brick pavers that were being sold to support the American Cancer Society, and of course I couldn't pass up the chance to purchase a couple for myself. The hardest part was choosing which ones I wanted out of the many designs but I finally did decide on the snail and a Halloween one of Frankenstein. However, of course after I got them home and promptly put the snail on my front porch I realized that I *had to have* more, because I just loved them. I ended up getting three more, a dragonfly (for the back patio), a snowman and then Uncle Sam that reads "God Bless America", oh gosh they are just too cute for words!

{ Teacup - T365 #19 }

2010-04-28T18:45:00.003-04:00

I have wanted to display some teacups in my kitchen for quite some time now, but I had two problems, I didn't have any and don't know where I'd actually put them in the kitchen. However, the other day I was driving and was stopped at a red light and happened to look over and notice a thrift store and thought I should go in and see if they had any teacups for sale and this is what I found. I love it, I love that it has a hummingbird on it and that it has some orange in it because my kitchen is a burnt orange color, it just goes perfectly.

For $3 I'm pretty sure I got a great deal...

{ Regal Geranium - T365 #18 }

2010-04-27T19:12:00.003-04:00

I attended a friends baby shower on Sunday and received a pot full of these gorgeous flowers, which are now sitting as a centerpiece on my kitchen table. I am planning to plant them outside in our flower beds but think it might still be a little too cold at night.

{ Raindrops - T365 #17 }

2010-04-25T20:26:00.002-04:00

This past weekend our weather was dreary and wet, thankfully I was able to hide out at home for quite a bit of it. I snapped this picture yesterday evening and am pleased with the way it came out considering I used my standard 18-55mm lens that came with my camera (Canon Rebel T1i). I really want a macro lens next but have promised myself that until I start using the camera and getting more familiar with it I will not invest in other lens (although I did get a zoom lens when I got the camera also). So, a question, how many days of T365 should I have to get done before I reward myself with another lens? You tell me!

April Showers Bring May Flowers

{ Pictured Rocks Framed - T365 #16 }

2010-04-25T10:50:00.003-04:00

For our 5th anniversary back in August we took a road trip to the upper peninsula of Michigan and visited some of the beautiful sites. Our favorite place was Pictured Rocks which is a 70,000+ acre park at the south shore of Lake Superior. I recently matted and framed four of the pictures that I took while there and hung them in our hallway, as shown below. The colors and formations of the rocks and water was breathtaking, definitly somewhere I want to go back to and spend more time. I also matted and framed one more picture of another favorite place of ours, which I will save for another photo of the day.

This photo of photos doesn't do the rocks justice, they're amazing in person.

{ JogStats - T365 #15 }

2010-04-24T12:42:00.002-04:00

I've recently started walking my neighborhood in the evenings and using the app JogStats on my Palm Pre to track my progress. As you can see from the picture the app tracks things like speed, distance, session time and much more. I have yet to use the other features such as graphs and maps, so I can't comment on them. I need/want to start getting back to the gym in the mornings for a tough work-out, I just need to find the motivation, I seem to have left it on the cruise ship after our recent vacation.

{ Fuddruckers - T365 #15 }

2010-04-23T06:34:00.003-04:00

Jim & I were out car shopping last night and he mentioned that we should have dinner at Fudds since we hadn't been there in in years and of course I agreed (anything was better then going home and cooking). Although they are known for their world famous burgers, I prefer chicken over beef so I got a grilled chicken sandwich and cheese fries, and was not disappointed.

I brought 1/2 the sandwich home for lunch the next day, I love leftovers!

{ Bloomin' - T365 #14 }

2010-04-22T22:09:00.003-04:00

I spotted this tree while running errands with my husband and had to stop to snap some shots of it. I love all the baby buds ready to burst into bloom, they are just so pretty.

"Where Flowers Bloom, So Does Hope." Lady Bird Johnson

{ Sitting Room - T365 #13 }

2010-04-21T09:16:00.003-04:00

I spent some time reading in our sitting room last night and thought it would make a great photo for the day. I wish I had a wide angle lens so I could photograph the room better, but I do not. When we built our house we had this planned to be a dining room, but finally decided a sitting room would be more useful to us. The bookcase and lamp are two of the most recent home decor purchases we've made and I'm very happy with the way it turned out.

{ They're Magically Delicious - T365 #12 }

2010-04-20T13:15:00.004-04:00

I am not one that eats cereal for breakfast, but I sure am one that eats it for dinner (sometimes)! When I go grocery shopping (which is not often) I tend to worry that the cashier is frowning upon the amount of sugary cereal I'm buying and thinking to themselves that I shouldn't be feeding a child all that cereal, but at least I know it's not for a child, it's for ME! My current favorites are Lucky Charms, Frosted Flakes, Cap'n Crunch Berries, Apple Jacks and Rice Krispies Treats.

I eat all the oats first and save the marshmallows for last!

{ Sexy and Sassy - T365 #11 }

2010-04-19T10:04:00.005-04:00

I wore these pumps to a family party yesterday and received a lot of compliments on them so I figured I'd use them as my picture of the day. These Naughty Monkey brand pumps are a beautiful black snakeskin with leopard print trim and heel (which has a hint of glitter), and I love them!

Naughty Monkey Dayliner 2

{ Full - T365 #10 }

2010-04-18T15:05:00.003-04:00

I know this is a pretty boring picture, but it's something all of us love to see in our vehicles. There is not much worse then having to get somewhere and getting in the vehicle to see that you need to stop for gas. I'm lucky that Jim generally takes care of putting the gas in our vehicles, as he'd rather me not do it myself and I am not going to argue with that.

$2.86/gallon, what are you currently paying?

{ Manicure/Pedicure - T365 #9 }

2010-04-17T14:09:00.009-04:00

I treated myself to a manicure and pedicure yesterday and decided to go with a light shade, OPI Greek Isles Collection "Aphrodite's Pink Nightie". I normally don't go this light with my polish but I love it, it's a beautiful frosty light pink, the color pink I'd want as frosting on my cupcakes if I was hosting a princess themed party!

On another note, I want a job that involves having to name colors. I would love to get paid to think up clever names for nail polish, or paint, or crayons, or lip stick, or whatever!

Manicure on my nails-nails!

{ Rings - T365 #8 }

2010-04-16T10:53:00.000-04:00

I'm a self-proclaimed jewelryholic. The amount of jewelry that I took on our recent cruise was absurd, but believe me I may have taken a lot but I left a lot more at home. My picture of the day is of all the rings that I took with me.

Not pictured are the many rings that were left at home...

{ My Tasty Rainbow - T365 #7 }

2010-04-15T10:54:00.000-04:00

I enjoyed a nice bowl of my favorite ice cream last night, rainbow sherbet. I've probably tried every brand of sherbet available (well, in Michigan at least) and hands down the generic Kroger Rainbow Sherbet is the best out there.

I can almost taste it..

{ Spring Flowers - T365 #6 }

2010-04-14T12:44:00.000-04:00

I've finally spotted my first sign that spring may officially be HERE (like really here, not just because the calendar says so).

Every flower is a soul blossoming in nature

{ Check(ered) Me - T365 #5 }

2010-04-13T10:56:00.000-04:00

I snapped this self-portrait yesterday after work, it was a comfortable day for me. This is my hair in it's natural state when I don't feel like or don't have the time to straighten it. I love this scarf (or scarves in general), I like to wear them with a simple outfit for a pop of something fun (I wore black leggings and a white tee).

{ Coloring - T365 #4 }

2010-04-12T12:37:00.000-04:00

I've always loved to color, there is just something so magical about bringing the dull pages of a coloring book to life.

My Nephew Nicholas and & Me

{ Splash of Fun - T365 #3 }

2010-04-11T09:57:00.000-04:00

Yesterday Jim & I spent the day with our teenage nieces Erin and Kerstyn and our 4 year old nephew, Nicholas. We spent a couple hours at our local recreation center that has a great indoor pool and water play area, and we all had lots of fun. I didn't take too many pictures because it was more important for me to actually be in the water playing with the kids, but of the few I got I really love this one. Afterwards we took the kids for ice cream and then came back to our house and watched "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel", and I'm pretty sure I was the first one to fall asleep and the only one exhausted from our day of fun.

Always the modest, wearing his bathing suit and t-shirt

{ The Last Song - T365 #2 }

2010-04-10T10:38:00.000-04:00

I went to see "The Last Song" yesterday afternoon with my sister-in-law Tonya (Jim's sister) and my teenage nieces Erin (my sister Tina's daughter) and Kerstyn (Jim's sister Tonya's daughter). I have not read the book so I cannot compare the two, but I have to say that I loved the movie. It's a great story that shows the strength of family and first loves.

My favorite quote from the movie is "Sometimes you have to be apart from the people you love, but that doesn't make you love them any less. Sometimes it makes you love them more."

{ Gloomy - T365 #1 }

2010-04-09T13:52:00.000-04:00

Our weather this past week has been pretty cold and gloomy, I'm really looking forward to spring getting here and staying here.

Clinton River (Taken 4/8/10)

{ I'll take T365 for $100 }

2010-04-09T13:31:00.000-04:00

My main reason for making this blog was to challenge myself to do a "Project 365" (http://365project.org/). In short it's where you take a photo per day for a year and document it. My personal hope is that this challenge helps me to improve my skills with my camera (or give me some skills, since I have none), and helps me capture moments in my every day life that I might otherwise forget about. I read a lot of blogs and follow a lot of other people that do a P365 and hope that I can do this a little justice, although I think the best thing about it is that you can't really mess it up! Of course I'm just starting so I have a lot of energy and motivation for the project, I just hope I can keep it up!

So, with that Tamara365 (or T365) for short has been born. Wish me luck, I will need it.

{ A Week of "Freedom" }

2010-04-09T12:31:00.000-04:00

I know this entry is sort of out of order, but as you've read we recently returned from a cruise. We spent a glorious 7-days aboard the Carnival Freedom with many wonderful friends and family members. We visited Key West, Grand Cayman and Ocho Rios and then of course had lots of fun on the ship. We made a lot of great memories and can't wait to do it again. The only downfall of such a awesome vacation is that eventually it comes to an end and back to reality we all go, granted I have a great reality, I can't say it's better then being on permanent vacation!

Sun, Fun and Drinks!

Key West- (L) @ the Southernmost Point w/ Friends and (R) Us

Fun On Board- (L) Us, (M) Me and (R) Me and My Older Sister, Tina
Formal Night #2- (L) 12 Couples = Endless Fun and (R) Us

{ Dunn's River Falls, Jamaica }

2010-04-09T10:16:00.001-04:00

One of the most memorable experiences from our recent cruise was climbing Dunn's River Falls in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. We went on this cruise with lots of friends and family, but not everyone did the same excursion as us and even others that climbed the falls ended up in different groups, so there was just five of us together. The experience is most definitely one of a kind, it was amazing to climb all 600'(ish) of the falls, with it's natural stair-like steps, water slide and lagoons. I can totally see why these beautiful falls are considered one of Jamaica's natural treasures, they are truly breathtaking.

{ Gorgeous, Grand Cayman }

2010-04-08T13:41:00.001-04:00

During our recent cruise we spent a day in Grand Cayman, which was just beautiful. We rented a Jeep 4x4 and took a ride through the island. As you can see in the pictures (or at least in my opinion) we had a magical view of the crystal waters of the Caribbean, and gorgeous weather to go along with it. I sure wouldn't mind being lost on this island!

{ 1st Entry: I have a blog! }

2010-04-08T11:46:00.001-04:00

I'm so excited to officially be a blogger! I love reading blogs and currently subscribe to MANY blogs (via google reader, what a time saver). I think a blog is one of the best ways to share your life with others, near and far. If you don't see your blog listed in my blog roll leave me a comment with your blog and I'll be sure to add it. I hope you enjoy reading my blog as much as I enjoy reading blogs in general!

For my first post I've decided to share some pictures that were taken of us (myself and my husband Jim) on the cruise we recently returned from. For us, it's not often that we get dressed up and have our picture taken, so I'm glad we had this opportunity and am happy with the pictures, they will be perfect to add to the small album of times we do actually get to have fancy pictures taken together.