Hello!

Hello friends!

The littlest Cecil decided to pass out at 630 this evening so I decided I better take the time to get caught up on the good old bloggy blog. One of two things is going to happen tonight. Either Charlie is going to sleep until 7 am tomorrow and make mommy very happy or she is going to get up around 3 or 4 and decide to party since she crashed so early tonight. I'm hoping obviously for the first.

I'm several days behind on posting my images for the 365, at least on the blog. So I guess I'll do that first.

Day 25.

Friday night it decided to snow about 2.5/3 inches and I had a date with my amazing cousin to get my hair done Saturday morning at 830. I was praying she wanted to travel to the salon that morning because my hair was in serious need of some help. I was a little sick of the red, my roots were showing and my ends were SPLIT! Anywho, after several text messages in the weeeee early morning we both decided to take our chances with the snow and meet at her shop. I snapped this shot when I parked my car. I love this mural and the snow falling and on the ground made it that much more awesome.  So here is day 25 and here is The Highlands mural! Also, any of my Louisville ladies, if you need your hair done, my cousin is a genius and totally talented. Check her out!  Looks by Lauren

Day 26.
Week 4.

"Black as night, black as coal."

The Rolling Stones

Ok, first of all, my hair is not black. It's more of a chocolate brown. And yeah, I got bangs. I seem to go through a bangs phase every couple of years. I like them.  For now. This image is part of my 52 week project over at The Photographer Within. I'm not really sure what look I was trying to pull off here. I don't really do serious much because I don't think I have a "serious" face. I would rather be smiling. So yeah, there's that.

Day 27.

This was my Monday night. Jealous? Yeah, didn't think so. Charlie cried from the time I brought her home from daycare until she finally went to bed. She was SO tired and nothing I could do would make her happy. She just wanted to play, cry and play, just cry or cling to me and cry. These nights are no fun. I'm glad there aren't many of them. This image may look a little "flashy" because I'm currently doing a On Camera Flash workshop and we're in the process of shooting with direct flash which is something I never do. The results are never really that great unless you know what you're doing. I'm trying to learn what I'm doing instead of using my flash as a paperweight.

Day 28.

This will probably sound crazy, but this is probably one of my favorite images. I'm not sure why. I really like the colors, the eggs look so soft and my cutting board flows nicely with the setup. This was taken at about 5:10pm with a big window directly to the left of the bowl of eggs. I like the way the light is soft and I like that one little spotted egg. Sorry for rambling about eggs. 

Day 29. (I need to stop waiting so long to post these!)

Early morning decisions. Enough said.

Hope everyone is having a great night. I'm about to go curl up under a heated blanket and read a book. I'm on the third book of the Divergent series. I'm trying to read all these books before the movies come out. I think I'm going to read The fault in our stars next. I saw the trailer and it looks like I'll probably cry during that one. Man, I love a good book. I saw online that 33% of people don't read a book after they graduate from high school. This is BAFFLING! I love reading! I hope Charlie picks up on mine and Ryan's love for reading. 

Ok, I'll go now. I hear my Kindle calling my name from the charger. 

Goodnight friends.

xxx

Ryan

xxx

Ryan

Getting caught up on the 365 post.

Hey friends!

My kiddo is knocked out so I figured this was a good time to post a few pictures I'm behind on.

Day 22.

In memory of a fellow Sailor and one of the funniest, nicest, and greatest men I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. I'm so blessed that he was in my life for 4 short years.  My husbands grandfather, Grant. aka. Paps.

Day 23.

I was feeling rather un-inspired on Thursday night, plus I was SUPER tired. Ryan came into the living room and said that I should take a picture of his cool vintage Miller Lite can. Bam. There's day 23.

Day 24.

Hubs got his deer back from mounting today. Another one added to the wall. Glad we have a deer room now so these aren't hanging in my living room!

Not too much to say tonight. Have to get up early tomorrow to go get my hair done! This mop is a mess! I'll post pictures after. We're also going to the boat show and then to Mike Linnigs since it opened back up yesterday.

Hope everyone has a great night!


xxx

Ryan

It's just one of those days...

Sitting here listening to Lana Del Rey Radio on Pandora, playing around with photos and hacking the husbands Facebook account. It's a lot of fun. :-)

Yesterday was Charlie's 9 month doctors appointment and of course Dr. Hubbs didn't tell us anything we didn't already know. Our little bug is perfect :-) She weighs a whopping 22 lbs and is 27.4 inches long. Last Friday she started crawling and then out of no where yesterday she started pulling up to her knees on her toy box. I guess this means she's going to be pulling up to standing position and walking before I know it. I can't believe how fast this is all happening! Make it stop! Just kidding, I enjoy watching her grow, learn and discover things.

She only had to get one shot yesterday so she was pretty happy about that. Here is day 20.

Today is the last day to post my week 3 image for the lyric "It's like you're my mirror, my mirror staring back at me" for The Photographer Within's P52. I had this whole idea planned out in my head that incorporated Charlie but she just didn't want to cooperate with me this week. So instead of Charlie, I completed another selfie.

Day 21. Week 3.

I feel like it was kind of cliche to take a picture of myself in the mirror. I guess I was a little uninspired this week. Hopefully I can have some fun with next week's lyric.

I haven't really talked much about my weightless journey recently. I weigh in again Saturday but I'm currently down 7 lbs. Hopefully I'll be down another 2 by the time I weigh in again. I've really been doing great running and eating right. I feel so much better than I did 20 days ago. I'm not really trying to diet, I'm just trying to focus on making lifestyle changes and not eating crap that I was before. Luckily for me I've got a lot of motivation $$$ and some good friends along for the ride. :-)

Christina Perri's Jar of Hearts just came on. Wow. I love this song, it reminds me of a million different things.  I think I'll go ahead and sign off for tonight and sing this song at the top of my lungs. (Hope my neighbors can't hear me.)

xxx

Ryan

xxx

Ryan

Sunday Fun-day!

Today was a great day!

First, Charlie slept until 730. I actually woke up before her and I was soooo glad. Hopefully she keeps that up so I can get my runs in during the time she sleeps in the morning. This morning I did sprints for 3 miles and felt GREAT afterwards. I need to start building my endurance back up if I'm going to do some races this spring.

After I ran, I cooked breakfast which consisted of eggs and toast for Ryan and an egg white omelet for me. Charlie refused to eat her fruit and insisted that she get yogurt bits and puffs instead. How could I say no to that cute little face?! When we wrapped up breakfast I got ready and went to the grocery store to get supplies for the week.

When I got home, Charlie took a nap and I was able to read some of the new book I'm into right now. It's called Divergent. I really like it! There is a movie coming out about it this year and it's part of a series like the Hunger Games.

When Charlie woke up we went to dads house to hang out, watch the game and eat some dinner. Jeannine (my awesome step mom) made some delicious potato soup, a salad and some chicken salad. It was awesome and diet friendly :-) Jeannine texted me last night and asked if I had any recent pictures of me, Ryan and Charlie and honestly I don't. I have one from Thanksgiving of all of us and a few from Christmas but none that I really loved. Today I decided to take one of us three for my 365 project. (And for Jeannine of course).

I set the camera up on my tripod and had Ryan sit with Charlie while I focused. When I was good to go I went and sat down and snapped the shots with my remote control. Here is what we got.

Day 19.

This was my favorite. I really cannot wait to get my hair done this weekend. My mop is a mess these days! I loved the red while it lasted but I'm ready for my brown hair back! Thank goodness I go see my cousin this weekend to get fixed up and beautified. She is seriously a hair genius so if any of you in Louisville need some hair love look her up.  Looks by Lauren

Here are some other fun shots that I took with my remote today.

Charlie is such a trip. She's the happiest baby ever and we are so blessed. I thank God everyday for giving me the chance to be a mommy to this awesome little girl. Things aren't always easy but I wouldn't change my life for anything.

I hope everyone had a great Sunday. I'm rooting for the Bronco's to win the Super Bowl. I don't really have a team in this fight but I like Peyton Manning and I'm glad they beat the Patriots. (Haha Papa)

xxx

Ryan

Our girl is 9 months old!

Ah well, I'm a few days behind. If I could get some energy together I would be able to post consistently but since my kid wants to keep me sick all the time I do what I can :-)

I am finally feeling much better and was able to squeeze in a two mile run after getting back from Molly's slumber party princess birthday party thingy. I glimpsed into my future tonight and it was filled with little girls, screaming, tiaras, pink, giggling & fun. I'm cool with that. I do wish I could have stayed and helped my sister a little longer but as we all know, Charlie has a pretty strict bedtime and if she's not in her crib by 8pm she's not a happy little camper.

I'm a few days behind on posting my 365 on the blog.

Here is day 17.

This was yesterday morning. Little bug decided to sleep until 8:20. Yeah, she never does that on the weekend. I was just going to wake her up so we could get ready for daycare because I have to be at work at 9 and she was just sitting there waiting on me. Not even making a peep. She's so silly.

Today I decided to take her 9 month pics. The week is so busy so I don't really have a lot of time to do things then and also, the light isn't very good in the house when we get home at 5 so I knew that I was going to snap a few photos today.

Here is day 18 and Charlie's 9 month picture.

Those blue eyes kill me. I just love this little bug so much! I cannot believe it's been 9 months since she was born. It seems like just yesterday we were going through those rough first few weeks, the jaundice, the colic and the growing pains. I'm so glad we have such a great routine now and our girl is happy all of the time.

Louisville is about to play some ball so I'm not going to write much more. Gotta cheer on my CARDS! Here are a few more pics from today. :-)

xxx

Ryan

Facebook - RC2

Sweet sleeper.

These are some of the best times.


Day 16.

xxx

Ryan

Day 14 & 15 plus a big Happy Birthday shout out to my favorite niece!

Day 14.

Charlie was enchanted by the morning news. Silly girl. Day 14 also happens to be the day our girl turned 9 months old. So big!!! Her head looks so huge here. It makes me laugh. It's ok to laugh at your kid, right? I hope so. :-)

Day 15.

I love reading and I'm currently in the middle of a great book called Dark Places by Gillian Flynn. I saw this book was recommended on Buzzfeed as a book to read before the movie comes out later this year. I've already read one Gillian Flynn book, Gone Girl, and it was one of the greatest books. I loved all the twists and turns in that book. Very very good. So anyway, I knew I had to slap this book on my Kindle and get to reading. Day 15 is a selfie. :-)

Today also happens to be my sweet niece's 5th birthday! I cannot believe Molly is 5. I face timed her earlier on her iPad and she was really excited. I love that she showed me all her presents and what was left of her princess cake. This weekend her mom is hosting a slumber party so Charlie and I are going to go help out with that for a little bit. Molly is such a good big cousin. She's always asking to see baby Charlie when we FaceTime, it's the cutest. I just know they are going to be best friends.

Well, I'm exhausted as usual so I think I'm going to go crawl into my heated sheets and finish this book. I've got a list I want to finish up and most of the books have movies coming out this year! Yay!

Anyone have any good book recommendations?

xxx

Ryan