Believe it or not, she still scraps.

It's been a couple of months since I scrapped, so it feels so good to finish a few layouts. These are just a few of the layouts I made at SISiversary. More to come...

This is Mike and his friend Forrest running in the Raggedy Ann 5K back in March.

The oh-so-disappointing glockenspiel in Munich.

And our freshly coated walls. Sigh. I loves them. Probably because sanding and painting them was a three-week ordeal.

And in other scrappy news, I was invited by the oh-so-sweet-and fantastic Julie to be part of her new challenge blog. The blog is called These Are a Few of My Favorite Things, and the title pretty much sums it up. Our first challenge goes up on July 15th, and we'd love to have all of you participate!

Oh, and I updated the "Find Me Here" section on the right, just in case any of you want to keep up with the 365, Cynthiana banners, daily mugshot, or diptych projects. (Whew -- that seems like a lot!) I'll probably do an end-of-the-month update on each of these.

Silly boy, thinking he knows how to bake.

Last night, Mike reorganized the kitchen cabinets.
Then he decided to test me to see if I could find anything.
"Let's say you want to bake a cake. Where would your flour sifter be?"

Um...flour sifter? The man has obviously never watched me bake a cake.

July is gonna be a photo-riffic month.

I have a confession.

I have been burned out on photography for about the last year or so.

Apparently, when friends know you can take a semi-decent photo, they don't hesitate to ask you to do so. It was fun at first, because people wanted me around. (Part of me enjoys being needed.) But as time went on, I felt obligated to experience social gatherings from behind the camera.

About a year ago, I made a decision to stop taking my Rebel with me. I went to a friend's birthday party, and when people asked me if I could take photos, I said no (difficult to take photos with no camera). I enjoyed the party. I still took our Powershot places, but it's not a fancy camera, so people weren't as likely to ask for favors. But my photos have been very "snapshot" lately. I can't remember the last time I put a lot of thought into taking a photo. I used to be so serious about photography, and I so badly want to return to that.

Oh, and I don't get invited to as many get-togethers now. Kinda sucks, but I'm not as frazzled.

I barely took any photos as SISiversary over the weekend, either. I regret that. (Luckily, there's a photo-pool on Flickr, so I at least have some to draw from).

Please don't take the above as whining. I promise I'm not having a pity party. I just want you to know where I'm coming from.

So, I've decided that July is the month I get back to enjoying photography. I'm starting 365 again, as well as a mugshot a day, because I think that looks like fun. I'm doing a diptych project with this gal, and I'm going to chronicle the wide assortment of banners that show up in front of our courthouse. (A friend of mine said, "Cythiana is the sign-makingest town ever." I want to prove this.) :)

Now I just have to get good at saying no for those times I don't want to feel responsible for capturing someone else's special moments.

I'm excited about starting this! I think I should make a separate blog for these photos. What do you guys think?

Last week (in list form)

• Celebrated 5 wonderful years of marriage on the 19th.
• Celebrated Mike's 30th birthday on the 16. I bought him some tomatoes. Oh, and a birthday card that plays the chicken dance. :)
• My parents finally got to see the house this weekend.
• They gave us a carpet cleaner as a birthday/housewarming gift. The upstairs carpet desperately needs this. I think the previous owner left his dog to it's own devices on more than one occasion. Bleh.
• I'm almost finished painting my scraproom. I'm going for a gray and yellow color combo. The walls will be gray, with yellow accents throughout the room.
• I spent three days at a technology conference near Louisville.
• While there, I got spend an evening with this girl. We ate gooey brownies and it was fabulous.
• I'm sold on the idea of using cell phones as a learning tool. There are actually a lot of great things you can do with them...like using cellphones as a classroom response system (I had no idea!) It beats fighting the cellphone battle. Now to convince the administration...
• I know one of my goals this year was to learn how to knit, but I'm so into crochet right now, and I've moved beyond scarves! I love amigurumis. This book is fantastic.
• Getting stuff together for my trip to Nashville next week for SIScon. My roomies are fantastic, and I'm bringing my real-life best friend.

Me in A-Z

I saw this on Sarah's blog, so I thought I'd give it a try.

A – Age: 28 (29 next week)
B – Bed size: Full
C – Chore you hate: Cleaning out the refrigerator. Cleaning the toilet
D – Dog’s name: I don't have one. But if we did, it would be Hugendubel.
E – Essential start your day item: toothbrush
F – Favorite color: yellow
G – Gold or Silver: silver
H – Height: 5′2"
I – Instruments you play(ed): piano and guitar. I would love to play the ukulele.
J – Job title: Technology teacher
K – Kid(s): Lola (the cat)
L – Living arrangements: House
M – Mom’s name: Judy
N – Nicknames: Bekka, Bex
O – Overnight hospital stay other than birth: never (knock on wood)
P – Pet Peeve: impatience
Q – Quote from a movie: “This one goes to eleven."
R – Right or left handed: Right
S – Siblings: Brittany and Zack
T – Time you wake up: somewhere between 7 and 10 am in the summer. 5:30 during the school year
V – Vegetable you dislike: Cabbage
U- Underwear: Umm...gonna pass on this one...
W – Ways you drink your coffee: mocha, sometimes in frappaccino form
X-rays you’ve had: teeth.
Y – Yummy food you make: beef stew, mashed potatoes
Z – Zoo favorite : bonabos

I'm baaaack!

Our internet was just activated today. Two weeks after I signed up. Hooray, anyway! :)

We are offically moved in. The ugly peach paint -- gone. Big hooray! (It took sanding for about 2 hours a day for two weeks to get rid of it.) The living room is a lovely yellow ("white raisin", to be exact). It finally feels like ours, and the room is just so much nicer! :)

First, the "before" photos:

And the "after":

I'm painting the upstairs bedroom (ie "scraproom") this weekend.

Lots more to share, but I need to catch up on some email, facebook, etc.

I'll be back shortly.

I'm just sorta, kinda internet-less at the moment. I'm only able to get online once a day, but that's alright. We'll be reconnected soon enough.

And, only two more days of school! I'm so ready for summer. And maybe a few days of sleeping in.

Be back soon!